Green Eyed Girl
by VintageSun
Summary: James Potter feels as if his world is crashing down, only one thought plays on his mind: The thought of Lily. She is not only the reason for his turmoil but also the only person who can recover his smile. Will James return to his once joyful self or will he be bound to relive the day he lost his green eyed girl? Suckish middle chapters but it improves, I promise, please persevere.
1. Challenges of Lily

James Potter woke early on the first of September. The family's long lasting house-elf, Gilly, was ironing his new Hogwarts robes to utter perfection. Gilly, even for a house elf, was small. With eyes the size of golf balls and a scull the size of a quaffle, her entire body was out of proportion with her head. Instead of the traditional pillowcase worn by fellow house elves, she preferred to dress as a child muggle would; in jeans, a shirt and trainers; and the Potters supplied her with the necessities. Therefore, both the family and Gilly felt comfortable with the fact that Gilly was not a slave, she was an equal to their family who liked to clean for them. Gilly was a free elf, not that she enjoyed that fact.

"Thanks, Gilly, you didn't have to do that for me, I could have done it," James said with a smirk.

"Lady Dorea said you were not to do it, Last time you set fire to your muggle clothes." To this, James let out a low chuckle, He really wasn't a domestic god, by far. In his opinion, ironing was pointless, who cared if your shirt was creased? Sirius would laugh at him if he ever admitted that he'd at least tried ironing. "Besides Lady Dorea said you needed a long sleep master James, otherwise you'd never stay awake on the train to Hogwarts."

Hogwarts, finally, He couldn't believe he was going back; Back to the world of charms and potions and pranks. And Evans, back to seeing her everyday, oh, how he'd missed seeing her, even if he received a dirty look every time they met. A look is a look, he reminded himself, a look is a look.

"Dreaming of that girl again?" Charlus Potter said as he walked into James' room. "By the way, Sirius sent an owl; he'll be here in ten minutes." He sat on the bed and studied James, as if she was reading his mind. James' father always had that affect on him. "Gilly, would you please prepare breakfast? It's a big day today and all."

Gilly shuffled out of the room, carrying the now neatly pressed robes and closing the door with a slight creak. James could hear his mother in the hallway, moaning about a howler she got from her aunt, discussing whether to open it or not. She decided on the latter.

"James, with it being your last year, I thought I'd give you something." He pulled out a purple box. It was small and circular with a deep blue velvet bow tied to the top. "Careful," He stated, "It's very valuable." With that, James opened the box. Inside was a deep set sapphire ring. "This is for you to use when it is needed." Yeah, James thought, like Lily would give me the time of day.

One hour later, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all sitting in their compartment on the Hogwarts express. Outside, the weather had brightened up and the sun shone through the glass in the windows. The daunting excitement of their final return to Hogwarts shed happiness to all of the seventh years in the fact that they would all pursue careers rather than learn in a classroom in the coming year. For James, this meant bad news. No more Hogwarts meant no more Lily, a fact that he was too eager to moan about at every given second.

"Would you shut up about Evans? Get over that girl already!" Sirius groaned.

"He's a man in love, well, obscure love" Remus chimed in.

"M-Maybe he is in love" Peter replied, resulting in an uproar of laughter from Sirius and Remus. "What? M-Maybe he is f-for all you know."

"Don't be dim. What does it matter little Miss Evans doesn't love him back? He has girls dropping at his feet!" Sirius retorted. "Hell, she doesn't even like him!"

Just then the compartment door slid open. There, standing in the door way, books in hand, was the red headed green eyed beauty, Lily Evans. She was still in her muggle clothes consisting of a green dress the exact colour of her eyes, James couldn't help but notice, and sandals. She had clearly gone for muggle summer, and James wasn't complaining. It took a while for him to register what she was saying.

"… So, I thought, what with me as head girl and Potter as head boy, that all the Gryffindor seventh years could celebrate. You know, a party, a get-together. You guys interested?" She looked around the compartment, eyes glancing to each of them in turn. Then she came to James and his heart skipped a beat when she smiled at him. He savoured the moment, then said

"Sure, what time?" She gave him the time and place and got up to go. Walking out of the compartment, she dropped her books. Almost immediately, James stood up and rushed to help. He gathered up the books and then stood, balancing a pile between his hands. "Where to?" He asked, eyes lingering on her face.

"Compartment twelve," She said, turning on her heel and leading the way. "You didn't have to do that," She started. "I mean, I could have carried them on my own."

"I know," James replied, smirking, "I just wanted an excuse to show off my muscle power." This resulted in a light laugh from Lily. Oh, how he loved that laugh. Those eyes, that face, everything. "Or, just to get you alone." At this, he sped up and overtook her, forcing her to slow down and go towards the wall. "Hey, Evans, want to go out with me?"

Lily smiled, leant into him; their faces close enough to kiss, grabbed her books and walked towards her compartment. "Maybe another time, Potter, Maybe another time."

"Oh, you'll want me!" He shouted back defiantly.

"Of course" were her last words before she shut the compartment door.

Lily Evans was a challenge. James Potter liked challenges.


	2. James Potter? Head Boy?

**The song that inspired me here is Friday- Harry Potter Parody- It's awesome :) Definatley worth looking up!**

As sunset approached, the train neared Hogwarts. All of the boys felt grateful to see the great castle in their sights. For James, Hogwarts was a place for him to learn all the magic he could ever want. For Remus, It was a place where he was counted as an equal, despite his many troubles and differences. For Peter, it was a chance to hide from a smothering and over protective family. And for Sirius, it was everything. A chance to have friends, escape his Slytherin family and most of all, never have to see them again. That sounded nice to Sirius, as James had been told so many times. That was why he spent almost three quarters of the summer at the Potters', He finally had a family that accepted him, and James, he finally had the brother he had always wanted, not his pompous, amazing, high achieving, Slytherin brother, Regulus, No, he had a brother he could turn to when in need, Hogwarts, next to the Potters', was home to Sirius. Just as it was to snivellous, James thought to himself with a low chuckle.

"Great, I forgot to change," Sirius said, for the seventh year in a row. "Why do I do it every time?" He asked, rushing to grab his things. "Why can't you be the forgetful ones?" He flustered, pulling on his Hogwarts uniform. Sirius was extremely good looking. His curly hair lay in locks to his shoulders and his broadly defined face was enough to make a room of girls swoon. It wasn't hard to say that along with James, he was the best-looking. Remus had definite good looks also, but his weariness and rough look made girls less attracted to him. There was always an air of uneasiness that people had around Remus, as nice as he was, it was as if people knew the secrets behind his smile, which James doubted they did. Peter on the other hand was very different. While the other boys were striking with their individuality and rough good looks, Peter was plain and plump. His straggling blonde hair had already started to wear away at the age of seventeen and his pasty grey eyes did not draw people to him as they did James' deep hazel eyes, Remus' forest green eyes or Sirius' midnight blue eyes. Peter was the type to fall deeply in love, and yet no girl looked at him when he was around the others, none of them, not one.

"At least we get food, I'm starving." James said as he looked towards the compartment door. Secretly, he was thinking of Lily, but the others didn't need to know that, they would surely laugh at him again. James and his friends weren't the type to discuss feelings and he thought that was all for the best; he didn't want the others to know how deeply he felt about her. Sirius, being his closest friend, knew. Who could look past the broad smile he put on, the automatic smoothening of his hair and the glint in his eyes when he saw her? Wormtail and Moony, Sirius reminded himself. They had no clue, as well as the beautiful Lily Evans herself. Clueless, blinded by misconception, they were oblivious to his feelings.

The four boys gathered their bags and headed out of the compartment just as the Hogwarts express grinded to a halt. They stood back as three first year boys ran past them, robes to their ankles and billowing behind them. It brought a smile to James' face to think that had once been him and the other marauders. It also made him realise that he only had one year left at Hogwarts; One year left to make his impression on the school, one year left to laugh with his friends, one year left to win Lily's heart.

"This will be the greatest year yet," Sirius remarked, sending a mock punch to Remus, to which Remus retaliated to with a feeble slap on the back.

"Better believe it," James said and then added "Especially now I'm head boy. Anyone up for duelling in the common room?"

"B-But that's against school rules!" Peter said, chewing his nails, looking nervous.

"Who cares? James is head boy now, not Pimple Paddy and his prefect posse." Sirius said venomously, spitting out each word like a bad taste in his mouth. "Look, Pete, you're either in or you're out. So, what'll it be?" He raised his eyebrows at the question. "Want to break as many rules as you can in your final year here? See McGonagall flip her lid more times than that year Peeves decided to hide the first years' potions experiments?" He smirked widely at the memory. "Or miss it all, and study." He added the last part with a mocking smile.

"W-What about Lily Evans? She's head girl you know." Peter replied. At the mention of Lily's name, James lifted his head up. That was another perk of the job, James supposed. The head boy and head girl of Hogwarts would have to do night patrols of the dormitories every night, together. Yes, James thought, that was defiantly another perk of the job.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about her," Remus remarked with a grin. "James will keep her busy. Anyway, I always thought she enjoyed our pranks, secretly."

"Yeah," Sirius sniggered, "As much as Wormtail loves cats"

"I-I don't think we should cause trouble." Peter said after what felt like an endless silence. "W-what about our NEWTS? I-I don't want to fail. I think I could be a good ministry official. I-If I try hard to get the grades, I could be, Padfoot, I know you think it's funny, but it matters to me." This resulted in a smirk from Sirius.

"Wormtail's right," James said with a passive face. "I mean, if I want to be an Auror, I need to at least try." And if I want to impress Evans, he added in his mind.

As the four of them neared the carriages, James spotted Lily from the corner of his eye. She had changed from her green dress into her Hogwarts robes. He saw the glint of her new head girl badge resting proudly on her shirt. James looked down at his own new silver badge. When he had opened up his Hogwarts letter to find a polished badge resting inside, he was shocked. No way was this for him. He thought that maybe they had sent it to the wrong person. But no, right there, in bold lettering was: _'Congratulations to Mr James Potter for being well behaved and above all courteous to the students of Hogwarts. For your hard work and dedication, you have been honoured with the position of head boy' _Of course, his parents were proud, as was he, but he knew he didn't deserve it. Maybe McGonagall has a humorous side? He thought. Or she was just trying to stop him from causing trouble. Yes, that was it, he decided, it wasn't about progress or manners, it was about prevention of trouble.

"Hey, Potter!" Lily shouted from two feet away. "Potter!" James spun to see Lily Evans pushing through the crowd to him, moving a few third years out of the way in the process. "Congrats," She said as she finally reached the place where the marauders stood. James looked at her blankly "On becoming head boy you nitwit!" She laughed. Oh, he loved it when she laughed. Then surprisingly, she gathered him into a hug. It was only a friendly hug, but it was something. As she pulled back, James heard a faint whistle from one of the others, but he couldn't pin point who it was. He was too busy gazing into Lily's glittering green eyes.

**Hey guys, this is my second chapter to my first fanfic, please rate/review it. Tell me what you like, what you don't like, if I need to improve, how I need to improve, Just report to me ALL your thoughts on how the story is going, feedback will make my stories better, and if you review, I'm more likely to bring my stories out quicker, It inspires me :) If you read it and can't be bothered to review, just comment that you read it, then I can know if I'm submitting stories and people are actually reading them. :) *OhMySnitch, I've written loads!***

**Anyway, Thankyou for reading! Love and broomsticks, Chloe x  
><strong>


	3. Getting it Together

**Okay, so, yeah, it's been a while. Over a year in fact. I am so sorry. A lot of things have been happening in my life lately and I just lost track of where I was supposed to be. So, since I last updated,I turned fifteen, and then sixteen last week... I know it's not an excuse but a lot of shit has happened in my life lately and I've just had to priorotise things, fanfics being one of them. I've read and reviewed but couldnt bring myself to continue my own fics, and for that im sorry. I thought no one liked my fics and it wasnt until the other day when i got my new review when i realised something: you only get more reviews and follows the more chapters you do. So i thought, hey ho, i might give it a go, and continue where i left off! If you'll let me? So, who's for second chances?**

"Heloooooo, my fellow Gryffindorks!" Sirius Black slurred as he drained the remnants of his bottle of firewhiskey. He stood atop of the fine oak coffee table and wobbled slightly in his drunkard state. "This, my little lions, is a time to celebrate! James Potter,"he said with a chuckle and a ruffle of James' hair, "James Potter is head boy! This old prankster is head boy! Looking after liccle firsties and confiscating prankster items, for our own frivolities no doubt. And what better way to celebrate than this get together right here?" he continued, gesturing around the room. "oh and Lils, no worries, I didn't forget about you! Congrats the fittest redhead ever! Three cheers!"he proposed as he suddenly lost his balance and stumbled slightly, splashing a glass of firewhiskey all over the canoodling Frank and Alice. "Oopsies!" he screached in a tone resembling that of a girl and ran away from Frank as he stood up to defend himself and his girlfriend.

James, however, was subtly ignoranT to his friends plight. Throughout that speech, he spent his time gazing at Lily. She had opted for a plain purple shirt and a pair of tight fitting jeaned shorts, revealing her sun kissed legs. James was not complaining.

As if sensing his gaze, Lily snuck a glance in his direction. He really had changed this summer. He still had that air of cockiness which did not cease to annoy her, but there was something... Different, something more.. Refined about him this year. It wasn't just his chiseled jaw line and his muscled torso which drew her to him, although that defiantly was a component. No, it was something else, something she couldn't place, which made her feet walk themselves over towards him.

"So, Potter, about the prefects rotar, I was thinking-" she said before she was cut off by James abruptly placing a finger to her lips to silence her.

"not tonight, Lils," he whispered. "that's tomorrow's business. Tonight we have fun!"

"Fun?" she questioned, turning up her nose.

"yes, Evans, fun!" he repeated,snorting at her disdainful look after mentioning that word. "I know you prefects are programmed not to have fun, but remember, you were the one who organised this shindig! If Mcgonagall comes along though, i'll have to tell her the truth, it's my duty as head boy." he mocked, laughing as a look of realisation and pure horror flashed over her face.

"she'd never believe you Potter!" Lily reassured both herself and James.

"I think she would. I reckon old professor McGonnagal fancies me really" he reasoned. "I mean, who wouldn't?" he said with a wink as he brushed his fingertips over her arm, causing a shock of pleasure up her spine. _How could he do this_? Lily wondered. She hated him, right? He made her blood boil with pure anger, so why did she feel this way? She decided to brush that off however and concentrate. She did not fancy James Potter, no way! He was rude, arrogant and down right ignorant! She'd sworn to Sev that she'd never fall for his charms and although their friendship had gone, she never broke a promise.

"well Potter, some of us are thankfully cured of your charms." Lily reasoned, replicating the way James had stroked her arm. To her surprise, James held her arm there and leant down so that their eyes met,and for a while, she felt like holding that gaze. _Well_, she thought, _some promises become redundant._

**Kay, how was that? R&R please?**

**love you all, **

**Chlo xxx**


	4. The Unexpected

**I felt bad... and inspired, so here's another chapter!**

* * *

><p>'James," Lily whispered, turning directing her face downwards, away from his as his eyes continued to caress her face.<p>

"Lily," he replied, taking her face into his palm and turning it so that she looked at him. He scrutinised every inch of her face, making her feel uneasy, until his eyes finally rested on hers. Those beautiful green eyes he wished he could stare at until the day he died. She diverted his gaze, face staring at the floor, as she considered the possibility of what may happen within the next few minutes.

"James," she repeated, gaining new found confidence to speak. "I can't." she turned her head from his caress.

"Why can't you Lils? What's stopping you?" She saw the hurt in his eyes, the accusations, the worry. He didn't understand, he didn't know. "If this is about Snivellous, I promise you Lily, we haven't even gone near that death eater prick since him and his evil slytherin friends started bowing down to You-Know-Who. I made a promise to you I wouldn't." he said, taking her small hands into his larger paws.

"Its not that," she said, pulling her hands out of his grasp and diverting his gaze. "I have... I have-"

"Lils, it's okay, just tell me, I won't be mad," he pressed calmly, trying to soothe her.

She shook her head in denial, tears forming in her eyes. "You will be though! I know you will!" she shouted, her emotions running wildly. He always had this affect on her. Wether it was jealousy, hatred or adoration, her emotions were multiplied to the extent where she couldn't think straight. She had no right to feel this guilt, she didn't even like that arrogant toe-rag! So why did she feel so bad for him?

Then, as if to strengthen her guilt, he said something only he would say at this time to try and console her. "Nothing you say will ever make me mad at you, Lils, nothing, ever. Just please, tell me what's wrong." there was a long pause whilst Lily gathered the energy to tell him what he defiantly would not want to know.

"I can't do this James," she said, a single tear escaping down her face, leaving a path which she could not be bothered to wipe away for fear of weeping uncontrollably. He opened his mouth as if to speak before she laid a single finger on his parted lips. "Shh," she soothed, "I'll tell you if you promise not to freak out."To this he nodded once, his face expressing the concern he felt. "I'm sorry James but I have a b-"

Their moment was suddenly interrupted by a boy James distantly recognised as a Ravenclaw seventh year slinging his arm around Lily's neck and leaving a lasting kiss on her cheek. This was met by a hostile glare from James as his hands balled up in to fists.

"Hey Lily flower, sorry I'm late, Flitwick was lecturing me again for forgetting the password," he said, a wild smile spreading across his face. "Oh, hey Potter! Congrats on making head boy, mate. Have to say, it was unexpected. My money was put on Lupin," he added, suddenly noticing James' presence.

"Who's this joker?" James asked through gritted teeth, his vision clouded with the distinct appearance of tears. He blinked them back, feeling betrayed by his eyes and his heart.

"Tobias Patton," the Ravenclaw said, holding out his hand, oblivious to James' brooding anger. "I'm the new Ravenclaw quidditch captain," he beamed. _Does this guy not realise how annoyingly unbearable he is?_ James thought.

"James," Lily's voice cut through the testosterone in the air like a wind chime in a storm. "James, this is what I was trying to tell you. This is Toby, my boyfriend."

* * *

><p><strong>Soo.. Who was expecting that?<strong>

**I have a serious inspiration, who knows when my next one will be up?;)**

**Love and broomsticks,**

**Chlo xx**


	5. Loosing It All

**Okay, so, I'm on a roll today! I just have this amazing feeling at the moment and I have the direct opposite of writers block! Eeeee! Ive never been this excited about a fic before, I think it's because I've had plenty of time to consider where it's going after all ;) so, I'm not doing too bad really, 3 chapters within two days! Hahahah I'm so sorry, one minute I update once a year and the next minute I have an updating spree! I do hope this continues! **

* * *

><p>It had been a month since that night and the two of them still hadn't spoken. Lily made attempts at small talk where she would ask questions and discuss the weather but was met by grunts and mumbles from James. He was hurt, she could see that, but there was nothing she could do. She hadn't led him on, the opposite in fact. She distinctly remembered denying him, over and over again, up until recently... He couldn't do this to her, mess with her brain. She had told him so many times that she didn't like him, he just didn't accept it, and now it had come around to bite him in the butt. So why did she feel this bad?<p>

The only time she could get a simple conversation out of him was when they had patrol together, of which they had many as head boy and girl.

"Nice weather we had today, huh?" she asked, attempting to make amends.

"Hmm.." he replied, looking away from her as they walked down the corridor in awkward silence. Why is he being like this? Lily thought. She suddenly felt angry. No, she was fully pissed off. Why was he acting this way? She had done nothing! All she did was say yes to Tobias Patton, a boy she had fancied since second year. He was deathly good looking with kind brown eyes, tousled brown locks and a warm smile. He was the boy of her dreams and he also did not have have an attitude problem, thank you very much! His muscles were subtle but apparent and he was tall and lean, the way everyone wanted their man to be. Not to mention, he was the third best kisser in seventh year, behind James and Sirius, according to Marlene McKinnon who had kissed almost every boy of their age. Almost being the operative word. Even she had standards. She was happy, so why wouldn't he let her be? She didn't like him, let alone love him, so how could he expect anything of her?

"James Potter, you arse!" she shouted, causing him to turn around with a bored expression on his face. "First of all, you bully my best friend. Secondly, you arrogantly harass me and then have the cheek to call it 'flirting'. And then,I decide to give you a chance of redemption to be my friend, and you become an ignorant pig just because, woe be told,I have a boyfriend!" she shrieked, her voice reaching a higher octave as she carried on. "It's my life and I shall do as I please!"

He stood there, eyes expressing his betrayal. They glazed over with tears as his anger took hold of him. "You're right, you can do what you want," he replied, his voice catching at the last word. "But don't expect me to care anymore."

He took off down the corridor in bounding strides. Lily had to run just to keep up with him.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" She squealed.

"It means," he said, stopping, turning on his heel so abruptly that Lily had to steady herself so as to not run straight into him. "That I am done chasing after you. You led me on Lily, you hurt me. I can't stand to see you with... Him. That arrogant perky little know-it-all." He shook his head. "I loved you, I really did. But you clearly didn't want me." He took a deep breath, calming the rage that was building up inside him.

"I'm done, Lily. I'm done with all of this, with you. You mess with my mind," to emphasise this, he pointed his index finger to his temple. "I can't do this anymore." he said, reaching for the shiny metal that was once proudly resting on his robes but now reminded him of something he could never truly be for her. It represented the false hope which he held just a month ago in his hands, the hope of a lasting love with his Lily, the hope that he now knew could never have been possible. He took the pin and opened her hand, placing the thin metal in the palm of her hand and moving her fingers to close her grip over the badge that no longer meant anything to him. His hands lingered there for a while, feeling the soft skin under his grip for one last breath, taking a moment before removing his hands and walking away.

Lily looked down her hand, the Head Boy pin glinting in the moonlight. She sighed, allowing the tears she had been holding back to stain her cheeks. "What shall I tell Dumbledore?" she called down the corridor as she saw the last glimpse of James fading into the darkness.

"Tell him to give the position to Remus," he called without even glancing back. "After all, no one ever expected me to live up to the role anyway," he said as his robes whipped around the corner and Lily was left alone.

Lily didn't know what to do, so she sat, and she cried, and she wiped away every last feeling and thought she ever had about James Charlus Potter.

* * *

><p><strong>Soooo, how was that d'ya think? I tried to show James' hurt and Lily's confusion the best way possible. R&amp;R pleaseee?<strong>

**Chlo xx**


	6. Stand Up

**The fourth chapter in 3 days? :S I have more in storeeeee!**

* * *

><p>"Toby," Lily whispered. The two were sat in the library, studying for the defence against the dark arts test Professor Lukham had mentioned in the lesson previously, when a thought came to her. Tobias glanced at her, encouraging her to speak. "I was wondering," she started, trying to find the words. "Do you think we're... Compatible?" She asked, her face scrunching up into a look of deep thought.<p>

"Of course, Lily flower" he said, sensing the tone in her voice. "Why? You you think we are not?"

"Of course not, I just think maybe... Maybe it's all too good to be true," she explained, resting her face in her pal. "You see, we are so similar, and you're amazing. Sometimes I think it's all just a dream," she said, looking up to his warm brown eyes.

"Trust me," he said, his face leaning in mere centimetres from hers, "this is not a dream." He then proceeded to kiss her sweetly on the lips, caressing her face as he did so. Whilst his lips brushed hers, she could not help but think there was something missing, a piece that didn't quite fit the puzzle somehow. She shook this off, everything was perfect. He was perfect, their relationship was perfect, this moment was perfect, and she wouldn't let her over thinking lead her astray from this glorious moment.

"What do we have here then?" a nasal voice sneered behind the two, interrupting the quiet. Lily spun around in her seat to find none other than Severus Snape stood behind her, flanked by his two death eater minions, Avery and Mulciber. The three slytherins stood there, smirking as Lily and Tobias squirmed under their glares. "The head girl and the new Ravenclaw quidditch captain embracing in the library? Well, well, well, what will Dumbledore say? Take it Potter didn't win after all?" He asked, an evil glint in his eye.

"I'm not a prize, Severus," she replied through gritted teeth.

"Hear that Snape?" Avery howled. "I'm not a prize, Severus" he mocked in a girlish tone, laughing heavily.

"Who'd want you as a prize?" Mulciber chuckled before adding under his breath, "filthy mud blood."

"How dare you!" Lily exclaimed, standing up fiercely to show she would not stand for such name calling. Her face contorted into a look of pure anguish and her fiery red locks cascaded down her hair, emphasising her fury. Snape couldn't help but make reference to the Veela in the black lake as her eyes bore into his. "I will not stand for this!" her outburst was now getting apologetic looks from the surrounding students, continuing their business in cowardice so as to not draw attention to themselves. Lily looked around the crowded Library for some sort of relief, someone to stand up for her, but no such relief came. She looked down to Toby, pleading to him with her eyes before he diverted her gaze and continued to read the chapter they had been discussing. She couldn't believe it. The audacity he had to just sit there and...Bow his head in shame. He was ashamed of what she was.

"Back of, death eater scum," a strong and familiar voice said from behind her. The three slytherins looked up to see none other than James Potter glaring down at them.

"Leave Evans alone." Came another rather distinct voice. There, hiding under a mass of curly hair, standing to one side of him was Sirius Black, glaring just as fiercely as his friend. To the other side of him was Remus Lupin, looking fragile yet dominant in his stance.

"You heard what the man said," Remus said feebly, pushing for the three to move away.

"Why? What are you three going to do?" Avery asked idiotically.

"Well," James said, his voice slicing through the thick and awkward silence, "Shall we see what we can do? Padfoot? Moony?" He gave a menacing smile, urging the death eaters to back down. James, Remus and Sirius all wordlessly drew out their wands, pointing them directly at each of Lily's antagonizers in turn. "So," he smiled, "Who's first?"

The three death eaters withdrew from their demeanour, knowing they cold not take on the three brightest students in their defence against the dark arts class. They slowly backed away towards the door.

"Just wait until the dark lord finds out about this! He does not commend mud bloods and their advocates, Potter. You would do well to remember this." Mulciber threatened as the three gathered pace and rounded the corner out of the library.

Lily span around, meeting James' gaze. "Thank you," she said, her anger flooding out in one final deep breath. "Thank you so, so much."

"No problem," he said, turning towards the door, his friends following him as he strutted the same way as Snape and his friends had.

Lily sat down, biting her nails. She couldn't believe what had just happened. James Potter, a man hurt by her new relationship, a man driven to tears because of her actions, had just stood there and protected her whilst her own boyfriend had hidden in cowardice. She didn't know what to say or do. She just sat, staring into space, trying to get her mind sorted out as Toby kept his nose in his book, feeling the upmost guilt for not protecting his girlfriend.

"Lily, sweetie, I'm so sorry..." he started after a long pause of silence. All of the students remaining were now filtering out into the great hall for dinner, leaving the two alone for a while.

"Don't worry about it, Tobes," Lily reassured him with a feeble attempt at a smile as she packed away her things. He took her hand in his and stooped her in her tracks.

"I really am sorry," he said, tying to gain eye contact with her. "I am, honestly."

"I know," she said, not looking at him. She then grabbed his arm and pulled him up from his seat. "Come on Toby, hurry up or we'll never get any dinner!"

* * *

><p><strong>Feeling into this story at the mo, tell me what you think please?<strong>

**Chlo xxxx**


	7. Misconception

**okay, so I haven't updated in like... 2/3days? Not as bad as last time though I suppose ;) I've been working on a really big chapter, (well, bigger) trying to boost up the word count because a few of the chapters are like 600 words which is quite low really :/ Kay, so, you don't want me babbling on anymore, here's the next chapter:**

* * *

><p>The next Saturday after the 'Snape incident', as the marauders were now calling it, James sat dolefully on his bed, twitching his wand from left to right as a paper airplane flew in the direction his wand pointed. He had been sat like this for three hours, glaring holes through the ceiling. Sirius was, to be quite blunt, sick of his best friends attitude and just wished he would return to his old, joker self.<p>

"You know what you need?" He questioned as James lay on his bed, staring as the enchanted paper flew over his head in loops. His eyes glinted with the tears he had held back the past few weeks.

"What?" He asked, dubiously. "What could possibly make this better? I've lost everything. The girl I love, my position of head boy, my sanity!" he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of his bed, collapsing once more back onto the red and gold Gryffindor bed linens. "You know what, Padfoot? I actually thought I had a chance!"He laughed bitterly at this, expressing his disdain for what had happened over the past month. "She never liked me," he concluded. "She just played with my emotions. Good riddance!"

"Prongs," Sirius started, "You don't mean that, you're just hurt. Lily didn't mean to hurt you, besides, you weren't even a couple!"

"Yeah, and I really thought this year we would be." she said, sitting upright on his bed, "I really thought she liked me. I mean, at the end of the year, we started to become friends and... Flirt, don't you think?" He asked, his face contorting into a range of emotions from confusion to anger.

"Yeah, and I really thought this year

"Well, she didn't hate you as much..." Sirius replied skeptically.

"How could I have been so stupid?" James asked, exasperated, putting his head in his hands to calm his frustration.

"I wouldn't call you stupid, mate," Padfoot said reassuringly. "That Toby is the stupid one. Bloody coward he was yesterday! No wonder he didn't get put in Gryffindor!"

"Yeah, but she wants brain, not brawn." James admitted woefully. "She doesn't care for someone like me. She wants the Ravenclaws and their excellent intelligent conversation and wit," he spat, the tasting the betrayal of each word as it left his mouth.

"Prongs," Sirius said worriedly, concerned for the welfare of his friend. "You need to get up, get out of here, away from these four walls!" He exclaimed, gesturing around him. "It's not good for you.

"I do," he agreed. "I do. I need to show Lily and that egg-head Tommy that I don't care!" he said, removing his face from his hands, a smile creeping over his face.

"His names Tobias, Prongs," Sirius said, smiling at his friends sudden change in mood, blatantly disinterested in what Tobias' name really was, rather to get one up on his friend.

"Timmy, Tommy, Toby. Who cares?" he asked, laughing heartily.

"Not us!" Sirius declared, chuckling. "Glad to have the old you back, man. I was starting to think you'd been replaced by a hopeless, moping Prongs." he said, pulling a anguished face.

"Hey!" James exclaimed, a large grin spreading across his face as he grabbed a cushion from his bed and threw it at Sirius, the cushion colliding with his hip as he flinched away from the impact. He caught it just as it was about to drop to the floor and sent it hurtling towards James, making impact on his temple. "Jammy git!" James smiled, untangling his unruly hair. "Thanks for bringing me back man, I was loosing it!"

"I know," Sirius agreed thoughtfully before lightening the tone. "At one point I thought you were going to get down on one knee and serenade me!"

"Don't flatter yourself, Padfoot, you aren't my type."

"No, you like little brainy redheaded witches." Sirius chortled, dodging the enchanted paper plane as it plunged towards him.

"And I need something to help me get over her!" He flustered.

"I have just the thing!" Padfoot declared before diving under his bunk. After a few moments of rattling, he emerged from under the bed, holding two rather large bottles of firewhiskey in each hand and thrusting them into the air. He threw one over to James with the accuracy of which only a chaser could possess and screwed the lid off of his own. He watched as James took a long, intensive gulp from his before diving in for the deep, sweet taste of firewhiskey burning down his throat.

"To getting pissed!" He toasted, holding his drink to the air, which James replicated.

"To firewhiskey!"

* * *

><p>Lily sat in the Gryffindor common room, nose deep in a book as her hair shadowed her face. That summer, disappointed with the lack of books in the library which she hadn't read, Lily had taken it upon herself to enter a muggle bookstore and browse the selection of books for things she might read. It was not her intention to leave with her arms full of books, an entire summers worth of babysitting wages spent on the woes and misfortunes of muggle characters. Right now, she was delving into the world of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, astounded by the quarrels of the aged text.<p>

She liked to think of herself as someone like Tess, the rather plain girl whom everyone saw as fair of face. She could not help but make the connection between Alec and James: The constant attempts to woo her; the multiple mistresses he had; the impulsive decisions. His persistency, his warped perception that he had some kind of ownership over her. She also saw Toby as Angel: An educated, well spoken man with high morals and a beautiful way of phrasing the simplistic of sentences.

However similar in character they were, one thing was apparent, and Lily was astounded as she read the book that she had made the connection between the two. James in so many ways was nothing like Alec. He was not manipulative, nor was he evil. She felt tremendous guilt for thinking of James in such a way, after all he'd been through. She swept away those thoughts as quickly as they came. Don't be silly, Lil, she chided herself, he can't hear you.

All of a sudden, a loud ruckus blundered through the door from the dorm rooms, a throaty laugh filling the air. Lily smelled the stale odour of Firewhiskey coming from the two Seventh years, toppling their way towards her. Sirius' mane of curly hair looked even more unkept than usual as he lifted it in order to see her. James hung back, Grinning to Marlene McKinnon suggestively as he leant on the door frame. The two had gone out in fifth year for a record of two weeks before James had had enough of her stalker qualities. She cried for two days, claiming she was in love, before vowing to never fall for him again. It's a good job she didn't make an unbreakable vow as she certainly wasn't resisting his charms.

"Evans, just thought I'd tell you," Sirius slurred between hiccups,"James is over you."

"Nice to know, Sirius," Lily mumbled, not raising her head from her book. "Please tell your friend that since he's head boy, he cannot be seen drinking so I suggest he goes upstairs and sober up before McGonagall finds him and expels him for incompetence."

"I'm not head boy anymore, Lil- Evans," he corrected, glaring over to her. "I gave you my badge, I resigned."

"Just because you gave me the badge doesn't mean I gave it to McGonagall," she said, looking up from her book slightly to see his reaction. His face was unreadable. A spectrum of emotions. Hurt, anger, resolution. He must of wondered why another head boy hadn't been announced. She took the badge out of her pocket and threw it over to him, him catching it from the other side I the room. Then, once again, she looked down to her book. "I told McGonnagall you'd dropped it into a pot in potions and needed it to be polished."

James gave a curt nod, looking down at the proud head boy pin. He felt pride, the pride that had welled up inside of him that day he had received his final Hogwarts letter, return. He was glad she had kept the badge for now he could prove everyone wrong. He did deserve this badge, no matter what anyone said, and he was going to prove it, after tonight that is.

"Potter," Marlene howled across the common room, her deep, throaty voice filling the silence. "Come here, I have a proposition for you."

James looked over to where she sat, beckoning him over. She was dressed in her 'casual' clothes, lounging against the plump sofa with an air of expectancy, her low cut top allowing the mystery that was her allure to disappear. James looked away. He didn't care for girls like that, they were Sirius' type of girl; the grab and go type. James may have been perceived as a player but that was more hear say than evidence. Still, Evans was there and he couldn't help but feel he must live up to her perception of him somehow. So, acting on impulse, James strolled over to the enticing brunette, sitting next to her on the large sofa.

Lily glanced over the top of her book as James slung an arm around the back of the sofa, Marlene leaning in too close for Lily's liking in order to whisper something in his ear. Lily sat there for the next few minutes, gazing over at the two, neglecting the book she held to hide her blush as Sirius watched her carefully, taking in the scene.

"You two," he slurred, "Are going to be the death of me."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay for anyone who hasn't read Tom Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles (:O shock!horror!) it is an excellent book but you probs won't know the AlecTess/Angel scenario. Basically, Tess is abeautiful girl who doesn't know it. She goes to work for Alec who takes a fancy to her and is very.. Uh... Persistent. Hes kinda the bad guy. Angel also likes her but is like the good guy in the story. I just wanted to show Lily's perception of him and how warped it is to how he actually is. Plus, we are doing a play of the book at school and I have a part :D Just a insight on what's happening in my life :)**

**(1,874 words)**

**-chlo xxxx**


	8. Recognition

**okay, so I re-read this story and realised I hadn't established a friend for Lily *facepalm*. So,wanting a magical name,I went on this magical name generator and it gave me Flidais as an Irish nature goddess. I loved the idea of her being Irish and being named after a goddess and so searched for other names from the Celtic culture for her siblings and then developed her story from there. When i say 'thick framed glasses' i mean geek glasses btw :)If you read who Flidais is in celtic culture on the Internet, you may get a slight hint as to whshe role she may play in the story, just a little bit of foreshadowing happening.**

* * *

><p>That night, Lily sat for hours, long after the Marauders had left with a giggling gang of sixth year girls, James with his arm slung around Marlene's shoulders amidst a chorus of frolicking teenagers. She didn't know why, but she felt as though she must wait to see the outcome of the night, to see wether or not James would live up to he idea of him. She did not understand why, but she felt deep regret for what had happened.<p>

Not long after 12, she heard footsteps stumbling down the stairs from the girls dorm. There, staring dewy-eyed at her was her best friend of seven years, the beautiful girl that was Flidais Sonas. Her brown hair, usually a cascade of curls, looked tangled as she swept it away from her face to reveal her warm brown eyes. She slid her thick rimmed glasses upwards so that they rested on the bridge of her nose and squinted in the glare of the lamps, trying to define her figure amongst the dim light.

Flidais, whom Lily called affectionatly Fli or Dais, was a beautiful irish girl with goddess-like features. Her parents, an eccentric Irish couple, Bonnie and Andrew, had grown up together with a profound dislike of their names, wishing their own parents had been much more inventive when choosing them. Whilst at Hogwarts, both Bonnie and Andrew had enjoyed muggle studies, relishing in the tales of the Celtic gods, their own Irish heritage, and so bestowed upon each of their three children a name in the hopes of each child fulfilling their potential. Each child had the name of a celtic god, and each child looked like a Celtic god. Angus, Fli's older brother, had graduated from Hogwarts last year. He was, as Rose herself could not deny, a god. He was now studying music in a muggle university, and much to his namesake, he was exceptional. Beauty, creativity, love, music, all were at his grasp and yet he did not realise his godlike features, much like the rest of the Sonas'. Not one female pupil in Hogwarts (apart from his sisters) could say that they hadn't fancied him at one time. Sadly to the female wizard population however, Angus was to be wed to his long time girlfriend, Amelia, next year. The final of the Sonas children was Airmid. Much to her own namesake, she aspired to be a healer, and could often be found with Madame Pomfrey, aiding her with her ailing patients. She was fourteen years old and had almost every boy drooling at her feet. The only exceptions to the rule of her allure were Sirius and James. James was too busy chasing Lily herself and Sirius... Sirius had other priorities of which no one knew what. It is said that she has even had boys purposely falling off their brooms in quidditch just to have the beautiful girl watching over them. She however, as much as her siblings, was oblivious. Flidais was the only one of her siblings to not live up to their namesake. Although she loved her parents, she had once confided in Lily that she resented them for her name. She had always been taunted about her name, ridiculed in a way which her siblings had not been.

"At least they have normal-ish names!" she cried one day in fifth year after receiving taunts from Regulas Black, waving her arms around, flustered.

Once, Lily had read up on Celtic beliefs and was stunned to find out who Dais had been named after. She could not believe Bonnie and Andrew would allow their baby girl to be named after such a... Provocative figure. Dais had never been the type to approach a man, much less be a figure of... Fornication. Once, Lily had approached Bonnie about this, her face flushing with embarrassment.

"Bonnie," she began, eyes darting to floor. "Why did you name Fli, Flidais? I mean, not to sound rude, but don't you find the goddess rather... Sexual?" she whispered the last word, nerves kicking in.

"On the contrary, Lily, Flidais was not just known for her sexual attributes but rather her ability to be one with nature," she pronounced excitedly, her eyes glazing over,lost in an imaginary world. "The tamer of beasts, the alluring forest protector, the goddess of shape shifters!" she clasped her hands above her heart in a dream-like trance.

Lily had always admired the Sonas family after hearing what their last name meant in Irish the first summer she spent there. "It means happiness," Andrew had announced gleefully to herself and Severus, entwining his hand with his wife's. She had always loved spending summers there with Fli, Angus, Airmid and sometimes Severus, before the uh... Incident. the Sonas' were always so nice to her, so welcoming.

"I know," Lily said earnestly, "I couldn't sleep, so I thought i'd do some charms work." She lied, indicating to the open textbook which she had opened and not yet touched. "There's no need to worry,"she added, seeing the concerned look on her friends face as she sunk into the plush sofa cushions by the fire. Lily walked over to her friend and sat opposite her, feeling the warmth of the flames soothe her aching muscles after a hard days work.

"So," Fli said through a large yawn, "It has nothing to do with the fact that Potter has gone off out with the sixth years?" she probed. How is it she always knows what I'm thinking? Lily questioned, dubiously.

"Am I that readable?" she asked, feeling betrayal etching lines in her face with every word she spoke.

"Only to me, honey," Fli laughed, comforting her friend.

"I don't even know why, I mean, I have Toby, he's perfect!" she exclaimed, her hands flailing around in frustration.

"Maybe perfection isn't what you need," Fli explained, reproachful. "Maybe what you need is a little imperfection in your perfect life." Lily attempted to fathom what her friend had said before a clatter came from the portrait hole.

"Goodnight Mr Potter," the fat lady said, aggravated. "You are rather late, I hope your friends are not much later than yourself, I need my beauty sleep!"

Lily looked up, expecting James to enter with his face attached to a sixth year in a drunkard state. However, she was met with a surprise. He strolled in, his head hanging low, sorrow reflected on his face. He sighed in recognition of a wasted night. He just wished Lily had been there with him to laugh at the girls' failed attempts of flirting. He could not get her out of his head. He then looked up and noticed the charms book lying abandoned on the table, redundant. His eyes drew around to Lily and he could not retract his gaze from hers.

"well would you look at the time?" Fli said, glancing at her bare wrist with a yawn. "I guess I'll see you in the morning, Lils." with that, she ran up the step to the dormitories, tripping on one step with a groan before continuing upward.

There was a pregnant silence where neither of them spoke for a long time, they just held their gaze, daring each other to speak first.

Finally, Lily spoke, softly, hesitantly. "What happened to Marlene?"

"Huh?" he asked, dumbfounded before remembering the girl he had left with. "Oh, yeah, I left her with Sirius," he dismissed with a wave of his hand. The truth is, he had only left with her thinking that Lily would have gone to bed and assumed they had hooked up. Hedod not expect his plans to be ruined by a late night gossip. He was thankful, however, as he had regretted his plan from the moment he began to carry it out.

"I assumed you'd be snogging right now," Lily continued, standing up, straightening out her skirt.

"Yeah, well I'm not the guy you think I am," James said, stepping closer to her. They were now within touching distance, the closest they'd been since the night of the 1st of September. "I'm not a man whore."

Lily chuckled, oh, how he loved that chuckle, "Contrary to belief..."

"I'm not," he interrupted, looking up towards those eyes he could not resist. His gaze then glanced down to those lips he wished to kiss. A flyaway piece of red hair tumbled in front of his gaze, tantalisingly soft. Before he knew what he was doing, he reached towards her, brushing the hair behind her ear, his hand resting there.

"I'm sorry," he said, drawing his hand away before it was stopped by her soft fingers lingering on his skin, holding his hand in a caress. The two were stood enticingly close, close enough to kiss. Lily swore she could taste the fire whiskey on his breath as he leant down to brush her lips with one, soft kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>Kay, so, I've established what I intend to do. How about I update every Saturday at least. If I update sooner than that, it is a surprise chapter but I will still update on the Saturday, so you may get two chapters (+) in one week. Sound good?<strong>

**As always, I would love it of you were to leave me a lovely review,**

**Lots of love,**

**Chloeeeeeeeeeeeee xxxxxxxxx**


	9. The Realisation

**okay, so I know I said Saturday but I had homework and a surprise party for my friend and this week is birthday week for my family. (my dads on the 12th, nan's on the 15th, aunties on the 16th, sisters on the 17th and uncles on the 19th! It's seriously worse that Christmas for our family in regards to presents! It's an expensive time :L ) So, yeah I'm busy lately but I felt so bad so absolutely HAD to upload today. I also felt like I couldn't upload it with less than 1,000 words and wrote too much and have now taken some of it off the end for the next chapter, sorry about that! :L oh, and sorry that it's a filler chapter, I'm just building it up for the drama that will unfold! **

**Okay, just a quick thanks to two authors/writers that have inspired me: whatapileofshit10 andpinkconchshell. Each are equally amazing (that means they're brilliant!) **

* * *

><p>Fireworks. That was the only way she could describe the sensation she felt as his soft lips caressed hers in an embrace. Deepening the kiss, she let her hands glide up to his neck, entwining her fingers with his messy hair as his slid town to her waist, reeling her in closer. Not that she'd admit this, for she was still mad that he had the indecency to pounce on her like that, but she had never felt this way. About anyone. Ever. Pulling back for air, they finally released each other, realisation dawning on them. Lily sank to the floor, her head in her hands as the guilt of what she had just done weighed down her shoulders, like an avalanche of emotions, she was trapped.<p>

"Lils," James whispered reproachfully, his eyes betraying him with a mist of tears. She had pulled back from his embrace, the dream he had longed for for so long. He flicked the tears away and tried to console her. "It's okay."

"No, James," she mustered, "It isn't." It was then that he realised, as she lifted her gaze up to his, that she wasn't embarrassed, she was ashamed. Ashamed of him and what they had done.

"Fine," he whispered, anger clouding the sorrow in his voice, "I'll forget this ever happened, so you can keep your head girl status intact." With that he turned on his heel, the tears he had hidden now flowing from his eyes in a crescendo of sadness. As he reached the stairs, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"No," the hand stated, turning him around to face its director. "We'll never forget."

Just then,a disorderly Sirius tumbled through the portrait hole in a drunken stupor to find the two enveloped in a tear stained kiss.

"So," Fli said, jumping on Lily's bed the next morning, "What happened last night after I left?" This was met by a groan of pure indifference as Lily attempted to muffle the sound of her voice with her pillow. Fli pulled it away easily with a flick of her wand, setting it aside across the room, too far for Lily to reach.

"Fli," Lily moaned as she rolled over in her bed,her face now visible, cowering from the light of the suns glare. "It's too early for this."

"Actually, Lils," She smirked, her eyes narrowing, "It's two in the afternoon." with this, Lily leapt up, grabbing for her jeans in the process.

"Shit!" She exclaimed, tugging them over her feet in a rush. "I was meant to meet Toby at twelve!" She continued to dress, pulling her shirt over her head.

"I sent him away," Fli reassured, waving her hand in a dismissive manor. "Told him we were having a girly Sunday. I asked him to join us in our nail polish and face masks but he sadly declined." She added with a mischievous wink.

"Good," Lily groaned, diving into her bed. "I can sleep longer!"

"Oh no, no, no! If I tell someone I'll do something, then i'll bloody well do it!" She demanded, pulling her assortment of witch beauty products from underneath her bed. "I am gonna make you hot wether you like it or not!" she almost sung.

For about two hours, the two girls sat cross-legged on Lily's bed, painting their nails in matching pastel blues and pampering each other with an assortment of face masks and body creams, indulging themselves in a relaxing afternoon. Whenever James was brought up, Lily indiscreetly dismissed the subject and changed to a new topic. When it came around to Fli giving Lily a make over, she didn't particularly enjoy that thought either.

"No, Fli! I don't wear makeup!" She flustered, waving her arms about in pure frustration.

"Aw, come on Lils! I need to practice for the Halloween ball Professor Redfer is planning for next week!" she groaned at her friends face of bewilderment.

"Practice? I didn't know make up needed practice! Why they're having a ball in the middle of a war I will never know!" she exclaimed, her obliviousness to womanly nature apparent.

"Because, my boring little friend, it's fun! Besides, who are you going with anyway? James or Toby?" she winked at her revelation of the fact she had knowledge about Lily and James'... Predicament.

"Who told you?" Lily asked in disbelief.

"Who do you think?"

"Sirius?"

"Nooooooo..."

"I'm actually gonna kill him!"

"Hey, hey, hey, no killing my date to the dance!" she mocked, Lily's eyes widening at the last part.

"You... And Sirius?"

"Calm down sweety," Fli added hesitantly. "It's not a real date."

"Uh-huh, you hate him..." she started before Fli jumped into applying what felt like a mound of foundation against her skin, their earlier dispute forgotten.

"It's not a real date, like I said," she explained. "He needed to get out of an awkward situation with Marlene McKinnon about the dance and the only girl who he could think of at the time of said awkward situation was me." she continued, brushing her cheeks with blush before once more repeating "It's not a real date."

"And you just agreed to this? You hate him!"

"I know," She smiled mischievously, "But now he owes me one. Close your eyes." she tilted Lily's head up with the tip of her forefinger and Lily complied obediently as she coated on a thick black line of eyeliner to her upper lids. "So..." She hesitated, a smile creeping to her lips, "The kiss... How was it?"

Lily leant over and grabbed her pillow, raising it in threat. "One mention of the kisses and I won't hesitate to hit you."

"I won't, wait- Kisses?" she let a loud chuckle erupt from her throat. "There was more than one-" Before she could say anything else, her words were muffled by a well aimed blow to her mouth. "Hey!"

"I said one mention!"

"Yes, but that was only valid when I knew there was only one kiss, the one Sirius interrupted! Now two, that's a different story!"

"It is?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, rolling her eyes at her friend's cluelessness, "One kiss could be an accident, a fluke, a happening that just... Happened of its own accord and doesn't mean anything. But two? Two means that the first one actually does mean something and you came back for seconds, which must mean that he's a great kisser and that you felt something the first time and are curious. If it'd been three, now that's even juicier-" Lily let Fli carry on, mulling over her thoughts as pulled out a sticky looking brush from a tube full of the thick black liquid oozing from the brush itself. Lily did not think anything of it before the liquid literally rose up before her eyes.

"What in the world is that?" Lily asked, astonishment creeping upon her face.

"Mascara," Fli pointed out, bewilderment in her tone.

"My mum wears mascara and THAT is not mascara."

"Witch mascara!" Fli exclaimed, raising her arms above her head. "It stays on longer and it's actually waterproof and fireproof unlike muggle cosmetics. Keep your eyes open."

"Might get some of that for my mother," Lily mumbled, remembering her mother once moaning to Petunia, who wore thicker makeup than Fli, about her mascara.

"Yeah, and Petunia!" She giggled, concentrating on Lily's eyes. "Hold still."

"How long is thing going to take?" She asked impatiently, checking her watch. "Dinner will start in ten minutes and I've already missed breakfast and lunch!"

"Two minutes, stop whining," She said, digging in her makeup bag and holding up a small vial full of pink liquid. "Alas, I have found it!" she screeched, diving towards Lily and smearing the suspicious liquid over her lips. "Now for clothes!" she dove off of the bed and pulled her draws open noisily. "I know it's in here somewhere... Ah, here we are!"

Lily caught the thin purple fabric as it hurtled towards her and scrutinised it, or rather what there was of it, with her hands as well as her eyes. It was met with a resounding "No."

"Yes," Fli said, pulling out her own little ensemble, a daring red number which was, and Lily did not think this was possible, shorter than her own. It immediately made her feel better about the dress she was being obligated to wear. "Come on then, spit spot! I can't wait to see Potters face!" She cried as she tugged her own dress over her face and applied a coat of a red liquid from a vial much like the one she had applied to Lily's face. "Let's go!"


	10. The Understanding

**okay, so this is technically the second part of The Realisation as I wrote so much :L I'm proud to say that this is probably the longest chapter I have written so far and hopefully the next few will be just as long! :) so, without further ado... Here's The Understanding!**

* * *

><p>The great hall was livid with the excitement that only a dance could brinG. Because of the recent death eater attacks, the Hogsmeade trips had been cancelled for 'safety reasons'. James thought these reasons may have something to do with the fact that half of Slytherin house were death eaters themselves and the teachers feared an uprising in Hogwarts. So, annoyed with the constant groans of pupils, the teachers had decided to organise a dance for the depressed teens. This, of course, caused the entire female population of Hogwarts to dress provocatively in order to attract whatever male they could to get a date for the dance.<p>

He scanned the room, taking in the excitement. He could see himself asking a beautiful blonde girl, maybe a hufflepuff, someone with whom he would have a great time with and perhaps become friends with. He didn't want a relationship, he was still hoping Lily would fall in love with him. He glanced over to the Ravenclaw table to see Tobias sitting there, deep in conversation with the Ravenclaw beaters, Ezra and Jasmiah. The conversation seemed heated, _probably about how terrible their team is_, James thought. As Tobias looked up, James reverted his gaze to his food, not wanting to be caught staring.

He saw her in the corner of his eye. There he sat, wistfully glancing over at Sirius as he shovelled food into his mouth. He wished his life could be as simple as that. That he could laugh with his friends, eat as much food as he wanted and shack up with any girl that gave him the time of day. But he couldn't. No, of course he couldn't, because he was sick with guilt and love: He could not laugh for the ache of his dishonour welling up inside him was overwhelming; He could not eat for the ache in his stomach was not from lack of food; He could not get with another woman for as long as he lived because his heart, mind and soul belonged to Lily. It was the worst state he'd been in and couldn't even look in the direction of the redheaded girl.

That, of course didn't stop the rest of his friends. Wormtails eyes literally popped out of his head and Sirius had to bite his tongue to stifle his laughter. Sirius himself couldn't help but give a second glance in the two girls' direction, soaking up their appearances. If he just turned his head slightly perhaps he would get a glance at... No, he mustn't, he had to clear his thoughts, she was running around in his head already and if her appearance had made Sirius sit in awe, he was pretty sure his mind would never be put to rest. Even Remus, completely oblivious to all girls looked up over his book for a split second.

"Oh merlin, Prongs, Look at Evans and Sonas, they're giving Marlene a run for her stripper money!" He leant over the table and waved his hand in front of James' face. "Hellooooo? Prongs? I said-"

"I know what you said, Padfoot," He snapped, glaring holes into the scratch marks on the table, as if he could deepen them through his eyes. He then retracted what he said, glancing up to see a hurt expression on his friends face. "Sorry, I guess I'm just not in the mood."

"L-L-L-Lily's coming this way," Peter mumbled under his breath, breathing apprehensively.

"Yeah, Fli-Craze is dragging her." Sirius chimed, adorning his not-so-affectionate nickname for her.

"Just what I need, Girl talk." James groaned, hiding his face in his hands. As if to highlight his point, Lily and Fli almost skipped over, giggling about what James probably thought was a discussion about hair products. Then, suddenly, Lily turned curtly on her heel and slid on the bench next to James. He could smell the pungent stench of the perfume she had coated herself in, a distinct smell of vanilla and cinnamon rather than the sweet strawberry smell he loved so much. She had most likely borrowed some of Fli's, he didn't have a taste for it much. It was then that he gave her a once over. The purple dress really was quite flattering, floating down to her midthigh, exposing her long, thin legs, tanned from a summer abroad. Her makeup outlined her wondrous cheekbones, making her face even more sculpturess than he'd ever imagined. Her deep green eyes seemed even deeper than before, deeper than the sea with the outline of black deepening her gaze. The lips, the lips he had kissed not even 24 hours before, were now a rosy shade of pink, making him want to kiss her again oh so more. Strangely enough however, he decided that he preferred normal Lily, the natural beauty.

"Now Potter," She started, diving over the table and spooning food on to her golden plate. "We seriously need to talk."

"I heard my name?" Sirius said, spinning around from the riveting conversation he and Peter were clearly having on the history of magic essay.

"No, Padfoot, you didn't."

"I'm pretty sure I did."

"No you nosy git, you didn't."

"Hmm.. Strange," with this Lily let out a giggle which to James sounded more like a wind chime blowing in the breeze. "So," Sirius continued, turning to Fli, "About our date..."

With this James choked on the goblet of pumpkin juice he had been taking a sip of and let out an uproar of coughing and spluttering. When he regained his composure, he asked, "Date?"

"It's _**not**_ a date," Fli demanded, squirming under Sirius' perverted gaze over her bare flesh. "Quit looking at me like that, Black,or I'll hex you to moon and back."

"Oh Sonas, you shouldn't give me so much to look at then!" He said winking at her. She flushed red, taking Remus' jumper when he offered it to her and wrapping it around herself.

"Creep!"

"You say the sweetest things. So, I'll pick you up at 7?" She nodded angrily, muttering under her breath as he slid out from under the table, a mischievous grin on his face as he looked at his friends. "R of R?" he asked, using the marauders' code name for the room of requirement. Two of his friends nodded whilst James hung back.

"Nah, Padfoot, I think I'll do my divination homework," James said, excusing himself from his friends' antics. "It was set for last week and I can't keep using the excuse of quidditch practice, even if Professor Star is loopy."

"I'll come," a distinct, whiney voice came from behind Sirius. He span around to see Marlene McKinnon pressing herself up against him, her red lips framing her perfectly straight teeth as they grinned at him. She was dressed in, and Lily did not think this was possible, less than Fli and Lily themselves. Sirius looked flustered, and then angry that she was near him again.

"No." He said simply, sitting himself back down on the bench, "Were not going anymore. I'm um... Helping Prongs with his divination homework," he excused, bored with her clinginess. "Any ways, Me and Fli you see," to highlight this, he slung his arm over her shoulders and was met by a frustrated glare, "We're going to the dance together so I couldn't possibly do that to her."

"Oh no, I dont mind Sirius," She teased, smiling mockingly at him.

"Yes. You do." He replied through gritted teeth.

"No, I don't."

"It wouldn't be fair."

"I insist, go and have a good time."

"I can't. I-Uh- I want to stay with you!"

"You mustn't pity me, now go with your girlfriend."

"She's _**not**_ my girlfriend." throughout this exchange, Marlene tapped her foot in impatience before realising finally what Sirius was trying to do.

"If you don't want to go out with me you should have just said!" She screamed, causing the entire population of Hogwarts to stop and stare as she stomped her way out of the great hall, her 6th year minions hurriedly skipping behind her.

"Phew, Thanks honey," Sirius said, planting a big, soppy kiss on Fli's cheek.

"Ew! Ew! Ew! Don't you ever, _**ever**_, do that again Sirius _**Cygnus**_ Black!" Sirius sat, dumbfounded, and then realised what she had said.

"Prongs! I told you not to tell anyone!"

"Wasn't me!"

"Wormtail?"

"N-No."

Then, anger crossing his face, he turned to face his least disloyal friend. "It's always the quiet ones."

To this Remus, set down his book, placing his bookmark between the delicate pages so as to not loose the point from which he was reading. The large, beaten leather book read in gold lettering Lycanthropy:The Fear Volume VII. So that meant he'd already read the six other volumes and still had not gathered the information he needed to tell him there was no way out, Sirius thought to himself. He was always looking reading books on werewolves, hoping to somehow overcome the pain, to be able to offer himself some sort of relief. No matter how many books he read, how much time and effort he put in to his research, no such relief came.

"You do realise, Sirius," Remus said knowingly, "That you have a younger brother, not to mention a whole horde of Slytherin cousins, who would relinquish in telling the school your middle name."

"Yes but none of them would ever talk to Fli-bag." he said, waving his hand in dismissal to which he received a slap around the back of his head. "So it must be you!"

"Great detective skills, mad-eye moody, you should become an auror!" He mocked sarcastically. "Why don't you ask Fli herself where she found out your middle name?" Realisation flashed over Sirius' face as he turned to face her.

"It was me, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"When I was drunk,"

"Uh-huh."

"And hitting on you."

"Bingo."

He cast an apologetic look across to Remus, feeling sorry for the mistake he had made. "Sorry, man," he said, pouting slightly, "Forgive me?"

"Sure, dude." And with that he recovered his book and delved into the world of lycanthropy, a world he craved to no longer be a part of.

Unnoticed by the others, James and Lily had left the great hall silently, having seen the need for their own discussion. Lily led James through several winding corridors before stepping inside an empty classroom. Perching herself on a nearby desk, she studied James as he stood awkwardly at the other side of the room. She had never seen him like this, he was always so cocky, so arrogant. But now... now he sat, his head slung low, as if memorising the exact pattern and colour of the floor tiles.

"We seriously need to talk," she repeated her earlier phrase.

"Fine then, talk."

"I-Uh... About last night."

"What about it?" with this he looked up, expectant to see the worst, see the regret and hatred he had expected, but rather saw confusion on Lily's face. "Look, if you don't want me to remember it then fine, I won't, obliviate my mind right now!"

"No," she whispered so only they could hear, "I cant. We can't."

"Why can't we?"He bellowed, his eyes boring into hers. "It's easy, just raise your wand to my head," he stepped forward, closing the measurable gap between them and taking her wand out of her jacket pocket. He prised open her hand, sliding the wand into it, and raised it up to his temple. "Now say the words."

"No!" she screamed, streams of black running down her face, "I won't do it!"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want you to forget, I don't want to forget!"

"But we need to, because you have a boyfriend, and I can't deal with being a second choice."

"You're not, not anymore."

"Why? Why should I believe that?"

She then uttered the words he longed to hear. "because I love you."

Just like clockwork, a giddy Toby stumbled through the door, his mouth embracing that of the one person Lily never expected to kiss him.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, how was that? :S can you guess who Tobias' love interest is? Meh, so far I have been obvious, I feel like being different, sue me.<strong>

**Thanks for reading, **

**Chloeeeee xxxxx**


	11. Remembrance

**A/N: okay, so I know I said saturdays, and this is sunday, but I have good reason? No, actually, I don't, it's a terrible reason. So I've had the flu for several days and yesterday I was forced to go to a family party, which I didn't want to go :/ That's why I didn't upload until today. also in regards to the crappiness of this chapter- I'm sorry! It's reall short too :/!its because I upload via iPad and the Flu gives you headaches and I attempted to write more chapters on account of me not being at school but it just made the headaches worse, I fainted 3 times in 2 hours :/ sorry for the massive A/N, I'm just explaining why my latest chapter(s) aren't as good :) oh, and it's a bit of a filler chapter, sorry about that :/**

* * *

><p><strong>"Get down," Lily whispered hoarsely, crouching behind a nearby desk, yanking James' arm in the process.<strong>

"Please tell me why your boyfriend is kissing someone who definitely isn't you?" he questioned, staring over to Toby and his lover in disdain. "How could he do that to you?"

"What? You mean the same thing I did to him?" Recognition sparked in James' face and he peered over the desk.

"Ugh, looks like they're taking their little... Get together into the supply closet."

"I'd prefer not to look," she sighed, glaring holes into the wall. She felt sick. Yes, she had done the same thing, but this was different, she had told Toby of the mixed feelings she had the day he asked her out.

* * *

><p>The middle of summer had always been her favourite time of year. Flowers of every vivid colour imaginable bloomed and swayed in the breeze. People lounged around, setting up picnics wherever they pleased on the freshly mown grass. And the heat, wow, the heat was immense. It caused spontaneous outbursts of water fights and laughter. Lounging in the sun, one could pass the time away just sitting, and staring at the clouds. And so that's what Lily was doing.<p>

Herself and Fli had set up a blanket in a quiet park by spinners end. Little did Fli know, and Lily had full knowledge of this, this was the park where Lily and Severus had first met. She could still feel the hot air and the coolness of his hands. Oh, how she missed Sev. She was content with lying in the sun with a muggle book, watching the world go by. Unbeknown to Lily however, Fli was not. Within an hour she had sent an owl to almost every one of their seventh year friends, including, strangely enough, the marauders, and over half of them had replied without haste. It seemed they weren't the only ones with nothing to do.

Secretly, Fli had her own agenda, well, she had two, both of them involving boys. She straightened out her peach summer dress and ran her fingers through her hair, combing out all of the tangles. Then, she attempted to do the same for Lily, but was met with several rude remarks, and so gave up. She was hopeless.

It didn't take long for the first few people to arrive, apparating of course, and for her plan to go ahead. Within an hour, forty students were gathered, conversing about the prospect of their final year at Hogwarts. Still, in determination, Lily lay with her head on her bag and attempted to delve into the world of Oliver Twist. She liked Oliver, he was a poor boy with a free spirit, and just wanted a real home. It was then that she realised why she liked Oliver. He reminded her of Sev, before the death eaters. He too had come from near enough non existent parents, had to fight for food, and was beaten by the warden, his father, at home. He too fell into the wrong crowd, performing illegal acts with his friends. Sure, Fagans gang weren't the evil masterminds the death eaters were, and what they do does not equalise to that of the evil wizards, but in the Victorian ages, that was just as bad as what the death eaters do.

**She couldn't help but notice his smug grin from the corner of her eye. Fli swore she had a Potter radar, Lily just put it down to his arrogance emanating around anywhere he went. He, loaded with boxes of alcohol, muggle and magical, of which Lily had no idea how he got, (he was seventeen!), strode over to her, dumped the boxes next to her purposely with a thud as if to distract her from her book, and walked over to where his friends stood, chatting with a group of girls, Fli included in the gaggle. She glared at the spot where he was, memorising every hex she could think of under her breath in the hopes she may use every single of on them on him.**

**"Bat-bogey hex," a voice said from behind her, startling her to turn around. She looked up to see the cute Ravenclaw seeker from her year smiling down at her. **

**"I forgot about that one!" she said, mentally adding it to the list she kept in her head.**

**"Care if I take a seat?"**

**"Of course not, it's nice to talk to someone who has more than sex, alcohol and the opposite sex on their mind!" she exclaimed. The two had exchanged conversations many times, often they had been extremely intellectual, and so Lily knew how charismatic and well... Unable to find a better word for him, perfect he was.**

**"Not my type of thing, Fli told me it was alcohol free!"**

**"She told me it was just myself and her!" They both chuckled at this, delving into a long conversation which discussed everything from muggle school to the founding of Hogwarts. Soon enough, darkness fell on the mingling teens, and with it came the cold frost of the night. Lily found herself shivering, despite herself, and rubbed her hands over the goosebumps on her arms.**

**"Here," Toby said, wrapping his jacket around her. "You're shivering." although he had put the jacket around her shoulders, he allowed his arm to rest upon her shoulders, indulging himself in the jealous anger James bestowed upon himself.**

**"Thanks," She said, smiling.**

**"No problem. Look, Lily, there's something I need to ask you," he began.**

**"Go on then."**

**"Will you... Will you be my girlfriend?" He looked down in embarrassment at this, worried about her verdict. "It's just... I've liked you for a while. I mean, you're beautiful and you're smart and you're.. Well, for lack of a better word, perfect."**

**Little did they know, James had stormed off in anger at seeing Lily talking to another boy and so did not see this exchange, nor did he see the kiss they shared, an unspoken answer to his question.**

* * *

><p><strong>"Let's go, James," Lily said, her heart sinking.<strong>

**"So you won't confront him about this?"**

**"No."**

**"But he's kissing-"**

**"I know who he's kissing."**

**"Well if you won't confront them, I will."**

**"No!" She had to refrain herself from screaming, "You will not. This is my problem, and I will deal with it. It's only the same as what we did."**

**"No it's not, it's different!" **

**"Why? Because we love each other? How do you know that's not how they feel?"**

**"trust me," he said, his face inches away from hers, "I'd know. If they were in love, he wouldn't kiss like that," he gestured to the two in the supply closet doing god knows what. "He'd kiss like this," and with this he leant in for a soft, indulgent kiss.**

* * *

><p>Okay, so I thought I'd be cruel and not introduce the name of the person it was : Noone guessed right so I'm thinking of making it a bit of a murder mystery, but with no murder... So lily will know, James will (and obviously the two canoodlers) but not the audience! Sorry, I'm a bitch XD

Byeeeeeeeeeee

-Chloe xxxxxxxxxxxxx


	12. Clarity

**It's rather late, I'm sorry; I had my German and Spanish GCSE writing assessments and science coursework. :/ hey ho, on with the show!**

Love is hard, extremely hard, and Lily had no idea of which way to turn. On the one hand there was James; untameable, energetic James whom in one moment could make her feel livid with anger and in the next, devoting love. And then on the other hand there was Toby; dependable, perfect Toby, although not as dependable as she once thought. That much she knew was true, and the hurt she felt seeing that kiss was still raw. Maybe life wasn't as perfect as she once first thought.

Herself and Fli were currently in the process of making their dress robes for the ball, which they had designed themselves due to their inability to go into Hogsmeade, in beautiful, flowing fabric. Appealing to her nature, Fli had taken control of this effort, drawing not only her own but Lily's visions with the muggle crayons Petunia had sent Lily for Christmas. Petunia, of course, thought that Lily would never use these, what with being a witch, and so loved the aspect of buying her sister something worthless. So as to not anger their parents, Petunia had agreed that she would buy Lily a present each year, although they never specified the worth of this present. A box of matches, a razor and several children's books lived at the bottom of Lily's trunk with the crayons. Lily never thought she'd get to use them, for she was terrible at drawing, until now.

Fli however, was an excellent drawer. One page depicted a glowing brunette beauty with caramel skin and long, flowing hair. The dress she adorned had a sweetheart neckline and was a deep purple in colour. It stooped just below the knee, exposing her long, lean legs. The other page showed a young, pale woman with a mass of flaming red hair. She wore a sparkling, emerald green dress that swept to the floor around her. When designing this dress, she could not help but think of the way the green was the exact same shade of her eyes, something she knew James would notice, he always did. If she was honest, that was the only reason she looked forward to the ball, which was strange, considering he wasn't her date.

There, she sat, glumly eating meal in the entrance hall, whilst the entire world around her seemed ecstatic with the excitement of the coming ball. As she looked up, Lily noticed Toby over at the Ravenclaw table, conversing yet again with his Ravenclaw beaters. She couldn't help but notice how much time he spent with those two lately. She had only spoken to them a few times, and their conversation was minimal. From what she could gather, Ezra and Jasmiah were non-identical twins and sons of the famous broom inventor, Abraham Winkle. Ezra was a quiet boy with the highest intelligence level of all of the students to enter Hogwarts. Lily often saw him in the library, nose deep in a book whilst his fellow Ravenclaws milled, uninterestedly, around him. Jasmiah was a confident girl and often approached Lily with a warm smile and a hug. Where Ezra lacked in confidence, she made up for it with hers. She was the only person, besides Toby, who Ezra would speak to confidently without haste. Although she was not as intelligent as her brother, she herself was smart and witty. Both of the siblings were beautiful with their midnight black hear and misty grey eyes. Tobias, Ezra and Jasmiah were as thick as thieves, and Lily couldn't help but feel intense jealously when looking at them.

"Hey, earth to Lil," Fli laughed, waving her hand in front of her friends face.

"Sorry Fli," she yawned, expressing how tired she was after a restless night. "I just have a lot to think about lately."

"A problem shared is a problem halved."

"I have shared my problems,"

"Yeah, with James!"

"He _**is **_the problem!"

Just then, James himself strode into the great hall, his friends shuffling behind him, and plonked himself down next to Lily. She couldn't help but detect the distinct scent of his pungent aftershave as he dove into his plate, piled high, barely even stopping to chew. Sirius, next to Fli, was a perfect replica of him, causing a disdainful look to cross Fli's face as she attempted to finish the potions essay due for second lesson tomorrow.

"Do you ever come up for air?" She questioned, staring at him in disbelief. To this he just grunted.

"Immpf," he said, attempting to speak whilst basically cramming the contents of his plate into his mouth.

"What?"

He chewed and swallowed, clearing his mouth. "I've almost perfected it through my extra curricular activities."

"Snogging isn't extra curricular, Padfoot," Remus grinned, causing James to choke on whatever he had in his mouth, of Lily wasn't quite sure.

"Oh, Remus, I was attempting to be innocent," He rebuffed, fluttering his eyelids. "The extra curricular activity I mean is my amazing swimming skills."

"Sirius, you're shit at swimming. Remember last weekend at the lake you-" Fli stammered before remembering the company she was in. The entire group of Gryffindor's, bar, of course, Sirius, held identical faces of disbelief. Fli had told Lily that she was studying last weekend, with Mary… How had she not realised the deceit when Fli said she was studying? _**Studying**_. This was Fli, she never studied! It turns out Lily was too wrapped up in her own love life to see her friend clearly falling for the one person she hated the most.

"It's _**not**_ what you think," She started, seeing her friend's hurt expression, "I was studying, but then Mary suggested we go study by the lake, since the library was so full, and I said yeah, sure. And then Sirius came over to talk about the dance and I said-" Fli began rambling on, spinning the tale of her incident with Sirius. "So in the end, it's Sirius' fault I pushed him in the lake." She concluded. That put Lily's mind at rest… for now. She couldn't help but think there was more to the story than Fli was letting on. But, for now, she wouldn't push the case any further.

"Actually, you're the one who pushed me so technically it's your fault, What with you having the intent to push and all." Sirius countered, grinning lightly at her.

"It would help if you weren't a sodding prick all the time." Fli rebuffed.

"Marauders, help me out." James hadn't been listening. He had been glaring over to the Ravenclaw table where Tobias was clearly flaunting his prize- winning tart, right under Lily's nose. Lily was looking elsewhere, trying to divert the scene ahead, but James knew she'd seen. She had to have. His hand rested next to her's, close enough to touch, as the two gazed lovingly into each others eyes, breaking their gaze every so often to talk to one of Tobias' friends. It's surprising how they hadn't realised before how exceptionally close the two were. _Too close for comfort_, James thought.

"Get rid of him out of your life, Lils, you don't need him," He whispered in her ear soothingly.

"It's not that easy."

"Yes, It is."

"It isn't."

"I love you,"

"I love you too."

"Then you must."

"I will,"

"When?"

She looked at him, deep into his eyes, and felt the love she had been ignoring for so long well up inside her. It was overwhelming, the emotions. It felt as though she could walk on water, as though she was floating on a cloud, as though the world suddenly felt clearer and more beautiful. It was as if something had sparked and flicked a switch inside her mind, awakening parts of her senses she never knew she had, was too ignorant to realise. She could not ignore it any longer: she loved him. She truly, deeply loved him, and if this was the way he had always felt about her, she was not surprised that he had persisted for so long. If this was how he felt, she knew he would have persisted until the end of time, because he knew something she didn't: they were meant to be together.

"Now," she smiled, gathering the courage to muster up a simple word. Strangely, she felt nervous, as though realising her love meant something personal, as if they were meeting for the first time, which they sort of were. They were meeting for the first time since she felt the true, mind-numbing feeling that is true love.

"Good," he smiled, entwining their fingers underneath the table, "Because I can't wait to be able to kiss you in public, and I don't think I could wait any longer." His eyes glanced down to her perfect pink lips, caressing them with his eyes. She looked away. It was one thing to have people talking about her, and it was another for people to be calling her a cheater. She hated that word. _**Cheater**_. It tasted like vermin in her mouth. She wasn't a cheater, she was sure, and in her mind neither was Toby. They were just two people who made the mistake to jump into a relationship which neither of them was excited about and then got complacent with their feelings.

"I'll be right back," She told her friends, slipping out of her seat. She received several questioning glances as she made her way over to the Ravenclaw table where Tobias sat with his friends. Toby spun around as Lily tapped him on the shoulder and forced himself to smile at her. She now realised that she was not the only one who felt the strain of this relationship hanging between them like an anchor that just won't budge. He looked flushed, as if he had been caught doing something illegal, and in his eyes he could see that he wanted anything but to talk to Lily right now. He didn't know that she knew, of course he didn't, she had made sure of that when diving behind that desk, but she couldn't help but sense that he knew she atleast suspected something. And strangely, everything was clearer; this was the right thing to do.

"Toby, can we talk?" She asked, gesturing outside the hall.

"Of course," He nodded, breathing out in relief, clueing in to what her intentions were. He knew, and she knew, and James knew, and even his secret girlfriend probably knew. They knew that this had to end, perhaps not right here, but definitely right now. So, the two of them walked out of the hall together and through the winding corridors before they found the empty defence of the dark arts classroom and sat opposite each other on adjacent desks.

She had to do it, and she knew it had to be tonight, for she had just gathered the courage, and didn't want to loose it. If she did, she may loose James, whom she knew was the love of her life, forever.

**Okay, so there it is, perhaps my longest chapter yet. So… I was thinking of uploading the story I've written that's sort of connected to this one but it's about the whole Fli/Sirius tension. Tell me what you think? It won't be as long as this one, as the story runs along-side this one and so some of the details are already in this and some of the exchanges are in this also. It'll be like sort of a side story. So, please please please tell me what you think? Okay, as always, goodbye 'til next time, (which I promise will be sooner!)**

**Chloe xxxxxx**


	13. To Be in Love

**OMG, just realised a colossal Potterhead mistake on the last chapter! ***defence AGAINST the dark arts*** I'm an imbecile, sorry! Here we go, at least it's on time for once!**

"So…" Tobias said, perching himself on a desk in the middle of the empty defence against the dark arts classroom. "What was it you wanted to tell me?"

"Well," Lily closed the door soundlessly and strode over to where he sat, sitting opposite him. It seemed lately she'd had a lot of these night-time empty classroom run-ins with boys. The only difference was that this time, Toby certainly wouldn't interrupt her conversation by sneaking in for a snog with… her. "I know, Toby."

"Know what?" he asked, clueless to everything.

"About you and your…" She struggled to find the correct phrasing. What was she to him really? Was she a fling or rather his… mistress? She settled on a less accusatory word. "Friend."

"Seriously, I have no clue what you're on about."

"I saw you and her-"

"What? Just? We were just talking." He interrupted, his words coming out in a mad rush as though he had something to hide, which Lily clearly knew he did.

"I saw you two kissing, the other night." She said as his gaze diverted to the floor. It was as if the realisation of what she had just said was flooding into his mind like a wave of desperate regret. "But don't worry about it, because I realise now what I didn't before." She took a step towards him and held one of his cool hands in the palms of her own. "We just weren't meant to be; we may have loved each other but we weren't _**in**_ love."

"We could have been, if it wasn't for me!" he said exasperated, not realising her point."

"Don't you see?" she got up agitatedly and flailed her arms around in mid air. "We wouldn't have been, because we weren't meant for each other!" She sat back down on the desk and rubbed her temple in concentration. "Why do relationships have to be so complicated?" She questioned, tired of all of the love drama. "Why can't they write a book or make a documentary on how not to mess it up? I personally, and perhaps the entire world, would be kissing at the feet of the author.

"If we could know everything we should know straight away, well, the whole world would find love. There'd be no more middle aged men sitting drunk in the street, no more women selling themselves for a profit." She paced, enjoying having time to rant at someone other than Fli, indulging in the silence that Toby offered to gather her thoughts. "Even I, although I am still young, understand how if man can love a woman, he can do anything because with love, there are no boundaries, there are no conditions, there are no expectations.

"So, if a man says he loves a woman, like you have _oh so many times_, he does, and not another woman comes close." She paused, collecting her thoughts. "But we now know that is not the case. People cheat and people lie, but they say that they are still in love." She got up once more, her emotions running wildly as she lectured her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend.

"The little I know of love is that there is not second love, there is no other man or woman, there is only _**the**_ man or woman and if you say you love someone, you'd follow them to the ends of the earth, you'd protect them from hungry tigers, you'd stay with them as long you could, just to hear them say your name, see their face and know that they are OK. That is what love is really about, and I think I might have found it, in someone else." Tobias squirmed under this revelation, now hearing that she herself had found another source of affection. "No flash brooms or fancy houses, no jewellery worth more than your head, just the other person. The one you belong with; heart, body and soul." She hesitated before concluding, "And I think I've found that person."

There was a pregnant pause. You could hear a pin drop in the silence that ensued. "I get it now," He finally said. "We weren't in love, because if we were, we would never have found other people."

"Exactly," Lily said, smiling. "And that doesn't mean I don't love you, because I do, but only as a friend, nothing more."

"You too,"

He stood up and held his arms out wide for her and she ran into them. They stood there for a while, his chin resting on her head in a friendly embrace. His breath ruffled her hair as he breathed, causing it to splay out in multiple directions. "This guy you love," Toby began, pulling back from their embrace slightly and studying her face. "He's lucky to have you. If he ever hurts you then I swear, I'll…"

"Don't worry, he won't." She reassured, smiling. "He couldn't. Plus, I wouldn't let him, surely you know me better than that."

He let out a low chuckle as she withdrew from his arms. "So… who is this mystery guy? Do I know him?"

She began to walk to the door before turning back, her hand resting on the cool brass of the doorknob. "I should think so." Just as she was turning the round metal under her fingers, she heard Toby let out another chuckle before speaking.

"Say hi to Potter for me."

"Will do."

James sat in the great hall, staring at the door in which Lily and that Ravenclaw douche bag had left through. He didn't even hear when Fli and Sirius were shouting at him to pay attention; he was too drawn in imagining the conversation that would be happening currently in some kind of secluded classroom or corridor in the depths of Hogwarts. His stomach was sick with the apprehension of the outcome of that conversation. He ran over so many situations in his head that he just couldn't string together one sentence of the conversation his friends were having around him. Had she broken up with him yet or had she chickened out? Did that mess of a boy cry? He knew how much Lily hated it when people cried; he didn't think she could stand it if she was the one who caused the misery. Or maybe, just maybe, she had realised that she wasn't really in love with James and brainy guys really were her thing and the two of them were currently in some sort of broom cupboard snogging passionately, laughing at the fact that James thought Lily could actually like him while he sat there thinking that the two of them were going to go out or elope or something when really he was as clueless as he felt. Wow, his imagination was getting more vivid by the second. He really had to stop drinking so much pumpkin juice.

After approximately 41 minutes (James had timed the exchange exactly) Lily appeared from the doorway with a smile on her face. _So_, James thought, _she's either dumped him and it ended well, or the two of them just announced their undying love. _He hoped it was the former. If it was the latter, well, James might have to walk into death eater territory and announce his distaste for He Who Must Not Be Named. She slid onto on to the bench next to him, still grinning as she entwined his hand in hers. He looked at her, really looked at her, and felt nothing but deep, uncontrollable love for her. He just wanted to kiss her, right there, but saw the need for discrepancy. After all, the two had only been over for five minutes.

"What are you so smiley about, Evans?" Sirius questioned, his brow knitting together. "You missed dessert!"

"Oh, nothing, I just feel… free!" She exclaimed, generating a few laughs from their seventh-year huddle.

"Take it you and wonder-boy split up then?" He said, winking towards James with a huge grin plastered on his face. "Get in. I knew you'd want to dump him for me eventually. I just needed time." He received the finger off of Lily as Fli just stared at him in disbelief.

"I actually cannot believe the audacity of you!" She exclaimed furiously.

"Hey, there's enough of me to go around." He chortled, receiving a death glare like no other. "No need to get jealous."

"I will not even dignify that remark with a response!" She said, standing up abruptly, smoothening out her skirt. "Thank you for the wonderful conversation everyone, but it seems this is my cue to leave." And with that, Fli stormed out of the great hall, head held high. A few first years scuttled out of the way in awe as walked between the house tables, as if strutting down a runway.

"What's gotten into her?" Lily questioned as she watched her friend leave. To be truthful, she hadn't spent much time with her lately, what with all the boy drama, and so felt bad about not knowing what was wrong with her friend. Normally, she would know, instinctively, but this time… there was something new about the way she was agitated, as if what Sirius said about her jealously was right, and Fli had proven her true emotions.

"You know how she gets," Sirius dismissed with a wave of his hand as he got up to follow her. "It's just me, I make her mad!" He grinned wildly as he ran after her. Lily knew there was something more between those two than they let on, but chose to let it lie, as stirring up trouble was all she needed. If there was something going on, which Lily was quite sure there was, it was none of her business to be meddling in it, and so she should step back. If Fli wanted her to know, then she'd tell her, and that was that.

"So…" James said, turning to her with a smile. "Sexual tension or what?"

"We broke up," Lily smiled, tightening her grip on his hand as though he might run away now that she was no longer the object of someone else's affections. He didn't, instead his smile grew. She was grateful of this, for now she knew that this was real. All of the emotions she felt, the heartache, the pain; it was as real for him as it was for her.

"Good," He said, taking her by the hand and leading her out of the great hall. They made their way up to Gryffindor tower, smiling all the whole way.

**So… No one responded to my idea of Fli/Sirius' story and no one's guessed Toby's love interest yet so I guess I'll have to drag it out a little longer. Sorry about that.**

**As always, please review!**

**Love you all,**

**~Chloe xxxxxxx**


	14. Preparations

**A/N: Sorry, it's been 2 weeks. I have my excuses, even if you don't wanna hear them, sorry. As I may have mentioned a while ago, I am doing the play version of Tom Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles at my school and the last performance was saturday... *sigh* Last week I had a load of school trips and also had the dress and tech rehearsals and this week I had two dress rehearsals after school (Monday and Tuesday as we were rather ill-prepared) and the show Wednesday through Saturday. It's left me rather busy, so I apologise, hopefully this extra-long chapter will make up for it!**

**I will begin to upload my new Fli/Sirius (Sirius/OC) chapters to a new story entitled: 'Misery Loves Company'. At the end, you may get a sneak peak into the first chapter ;) This chapter is basically a build up to Misery Loves Company so that you guys want to read it as I haven't really explored the Fli/Sirius romance much :/So, without further ado, here we have… Preparations **

The emerald green eyes of the girl in the mirror bore into her own as Lily admired Fli's handiwork. It truly was beautiful. The bodice itself glittered with the glimmering beads that framed her shape and wound round in intricate, swirling patterns, as if the night sky itself had been printed in jewels. Flowing from the figure-shaping bodice was a beautiful satin skirt that swept around her and tenderly brushed the floor. The girl in the mirror shone in the afternoon sun, her red hair tied back in quick ponytail in preparation for the makeup her face would receive. Fli, crouching next to her, pins resting between her teeth as she made last minute adaptations to her work, mumbled something incoherent and dashed to duck under her bed and pulled out her sewing kit. Her mother had sent it the day Fli had told her of her mission to create the dresses the muggle way due to what Fli said was 'terrible wand stitching.'

"Take it off now so I can finish the hem," she said before her head shot up, a look of worry shattering her customary passive expression. "But be careful please, no major catastrophes."

"Trust me," She said, holding on to her bedpost as she slipped out of the fine silk that lined the inside of the dress and wrapping her fluffy robe around her shoulders. "If there are any catastrophes, it'll be down to you, Sirius and that dress." She laughed, nodding towards the equally beautiful dress that hung by Fli's bed. "What's going on there anyway?"

She looked up in a daze. "Sorry?"

"You… and Sirius," she slumped on her bed and hugged her pillow to her chest. "You know… you're not fighting anymore."

"No, we're not."

"And you're going to the dance together."

"We are."

"On a date…"

"It's _**not **_a date." Lily raised an eyebrow but did not say anything to this for fear that herself and Fli may get into an argument for it. There was a prominent silence as neither of them said a word, Lily death-glaring her cuticles, Fli delving into the twists and turns of her sewing. After what felt like an age, Fli finally spoke up. "It's just… I don't know. He makes me so angry; I don't even know why I agreed to this. I should have just said no, so many other boys asked me out before and after him, so why did I say yes?" She stared at her perfectly done line of thread as though in deep concentration. "It's just… It's Sirius."

"Look," Lily said, seriousness clouding her original mocking tone. "I thought I hated James, like, really hated him, and look at us now." Fli smiled at the thought. The two had been inseparable since Lily and Toby had split. Although they were careful to not undergo any public displays of affection, the students of Hogwarts as a whole noticed a definite difference between the two of them. It wasn't just the stolen kisses when they thought that people weren't looking or the glances and smiles they shared across the classroom but the overall glow of the pair. Their happiness, much like their anger, was infectious. The people around them could not help but feel the overwhelming joy that spread itself around them, like a cloud of joyfulness and love etched around them such as you might see in a muggle comic. It truly was breath taking.

"He might not be perfect," Lily continued, smiling to herself, "But who is? Maybe we all need imperfections."

"That's good advice, where did you get it?" She smirked, hanging the green dress up beside her own and pulling her makeup out of her trunk.

"A very pretty, very silly girl."

"She sounds familiar… do I know her?"

"Well she is my best friend."

"Damn and I thought that was me!" She giggled, sitting opposite Lily on the bed. "Now, on with the show, we only have three hours until the boys whisk us off to the ball and I personally still look like filch!"

James tapped his foot on the granite floor of the common room impatiently, checking his watch, a fine brass face with a brown leather strap, once belonging to his mother's father, which his parents had given him for his seventeenth birthday. The girls weren't late, far from it, but he had previously hurried to get ready and ran from his dorm to see Lily, forgetting that they weren't due to meet until seven. There he stood, pacing in front of the fire, turning his head towards the stairs every time a noise erupted from the archway, disappointed with the result. Eventually, he gave up, and slumped into the plush sofa cushions beside him.

Suddenly, loud pounding sounds came from the stairwell and from them came the mass of curly black hair that was Sirius black. He was dressed in the finest black dress robes you could ever imagine, and yet still he still made them look scruffy with his shirt lying open, exposing the white t-shirt he wore beneath. He held his tie in his hands and was looking at it in deep concentration, as though the tie itself had just materialised out of thin air. His eyes, beneath his long, unruly curls, lay there for a second and then glanced up to meet James', a look of bewilderment etched into his fine, god-like features.

"What…" he panted, as though he had run a marathon rather than simply down the stairs, "Is this?"

"A tie, Padfoot."

"A what?"

James was bemused at his astonishing lack of knowledge. "A tie. It goes around your neck. Have you never worn dress robes before?"

"No way in hell! You really think I actually went to my cousin Narcissistic's wedding to that Ludicrous Malfoy?" He snorted, clearly astonished at the thought that he would ever, _**ever,**_ go to such an event. "Mother may have bought the dress-robes for the occasion but that _**does not**_ mean I went."

"It's funny how even though your mother hates you, you still have finer dress robes than me."

"What can I say?" He laughed, saying the next part in the mocking tone which James recognised as the mick-taking voice he often used to mock his mother. "The noble house of Black has no shabby relations."

James laughed along with him, nervously checking the time. It was six thirty, a whole half hour before Fli and Lily were expected to turn up. That meant he had time to not only spruce Sirius' robes up but also have a glass of firewhiskey to calm his nerves

"Right, Padfoot, we need to sort out your get up."

"What? But I look fine."

He gave him a once over. His rather tatty yet lucky converse sneakers were untied; his shirt still had not been buttoned up; the tie that he once stared at was now slung lazily around his neck; and his hair really needed attention. "You're not even dressed properly, mate."

He waved him off as he buttoned up his shirt. "Not like Fli cares anyway, remember _it's not a date_." He remarked bitterly.

"Of course she cares," James chuckled, tying Sirius' tie and tucking in his shirt with a flick of his wand. Himself and Lily had already had the discussion of the two's obvious feelings. "Besides, out of the many boys who asked her, she said yes to you, Sirius Black!"

"Wait a minute…" He extended his index finger to him in a pointed gesture. "You're telling me…that some other guys, who had other choices… asked _**her**_?" His face showed that of astonishment at the revelation.

"Yeah, mate," James replied with a smirk, studying the tangled curls at the back of Sirius' head. "She's meant to be a catch with the boys in Hufflepuff."

"That's 'cos they're Hufflepuffs." He chuckled, bending down to tie his shoelaces. "There, I think we're done."

Right then, a shadow appeared in the archway, blocking the light from the stairwell. _Well_, James thought_, I guess there's no firewhiskey to calm my nerves tonight._ "Yeah, and just in time, too."

From the archway and into the light, out stepped the most beautiful sight James had ever witnessed. There, donning a figure hugging, body shaping masterpiece, was his princess Lily, an exceptional beauty beyond any type of comparison he could ever imagine. Her luscious, fiery red locks were wound and weaved in a beautiful and intricate fashion held together by a glittering pearl pin. The dress itself, James couldn't help but notice, was the exact shade of her eyes, framed her body perfectly and accentuated her best features. The gown truly was remarkable. The beautiful beads, the jewelled bodice, the way it seemed to flow around her, it was all… exceptional, and James didn't think he'd ever be able to let go of her hand as she placed it in his.

"Hey," She whispered shyly, taking in the sight of him. He truly was the most handsome boy she'd ever seen, not that she would have admitted it but a few months ago. His chiselled, statuesque jaw jutted out in an extremely bewitching way, as though the gods themselves had carved it out of stone. His glittering eyes beckoned her closer into his lanky, gangly arms as her small, cold, delicate hand seemed to fit perfectly into his large, warm, clumsy paws. Their embrace seemed to be perfect; as though they were the two components needed for a machine to work; they needed each other.

"Hey," He kissed her forehead. There, in front of almost the entirety of Gryffindor tower, where everyone, sixth years and first years alike, took an intake of breath. And neither of them cared.

"Where's Fli-Craze anyway?" Sirius said, breaking the intermittent silence.

"She'll be down in a minute," Lily replied with a smile, her gaze never reverting from James'. "We'll wait for you if you want."

"Nah, you two go on, have fun. Knowing Stone-arse she'll be another hour anyway." He moaned, slumping onto the sofa and picking up the nearest _Quidditch Weekly _off of the coffee table. When the two of them did not leave, he looked up. "Go, both of you, we'll meet you there."

"Alright then, we'll go," James said, taking Lily by the arm and whisking her away to the great hall, where a night of fun and frivolity awaited them.

_**Okay, so here is a Misery Loves Company teaser!**_

_**The Epilogue.**_

_She had always been the least favourite sibling, so, it appeared, had he. I guess they were made for each other from the start; they were blessed by the stars. No matter how much they defied their destiny, their destiny was always going to catch up with them, no matter how far they ran, they were doomed to follow this path, forever and always._

"_Sirius Black! You stupid oaf! Come out of that cupboard this instant!" Twelve year old Flidais Sonas boomed as she pounded on the thick oak of the wardrobe in the Gryffindor girls Quidditch changing rooms. "I saw you run in here you little frizzy haired perve! Come out of there at once!"_

"_Never!" He laughed, huddled inside the wardrobe, watching between the gap of the doors to see the angry faces of the girls who had tried out for Quidditch._

"_You have five minutes to rid the wardrobe of your evil little body before I bat-bogey-hex you!" The girls around her giggled inwardly, impressed that a second year girl would even try out for Quidditch, let alone know how to perform a bat-bogey hex. Sirius himself was impressed, not that he'd ever admit that of course._

"_Like you could."_

"_Want to try me?" She said, a vindictive grin widening on her face._

"_Ready girls?" Professor Astlebury asked as she walked into the changing rooms, arms laden with brooms. Professor Astlebury was the flying and Quidditch teacher. She was approximately five foot two and it was rumoured that she played for the Holyhead Harpies several decades ago. She was not only known for her excellent teaching skills but her blunt and aggressive teaching strategies. If you upset Professor Astlebury, all of your dreams of making your house's Quidditch team were suddenluy dow the drain. "Miss Sonas, may I ask why you are glaring at the cupboard?"_

_She span on her heel, ready to turn Sirius in to the awaiting professor. "Well I…" Funnily enough, she was not prepared for the request that awaited her._

"_Please Fli; I'll never make the team." Sirius whispered, terrified. "I'll do anything."_

_There was silence as Fli considered her options. Even she did not expect the reply she gave within the next few seconds. "I thought I saw a spider. You see, I have a terrible fear of them professor."_

"_Spiders are nothing compared to what you will see on the Quidditch field, Miss Sonas, you will do well to remember that." As she turned towards the door and walked out, the other girls scuffled behind her to join the boys on the Quidditch pitch for try outs. _

"_I owe you one," Sirius remarked as he stepped out of the cupboard. "Thanks mate."_

"_It's okay. Like you said," She smirked, "You owe me one."_

"_Yeah," He considered this before returning her remark with one of his own. "Who knew someone as annoying and insane as you could be so cool?" And with that he ran away onto the pitch to join the others, Fli trailing behind him, one fist raised into the air as she screamed:_

"_You little cretin!"_

**Meh, that's just a taster, its not the actual chapter, that still needs a few little tweeks. SO, what do you think?**

**Love you guys,**

**~Chloe xxxxxxxxxxxx**


	15. Testing Patience

**A/N:It's been ages again, I'm sorry, mock exams are up and running and I wanted to give you a reasonable length chapter (unlike the short ones written on my iPad earlier on in the story), plus it's the ball, that adds more description and events. Sorry!**

**You may have noticed Misery Loves Company has come out. I'm pleased to say it is going to be much longer than this one as it has no set path. Also, I have more inspiration and the chapters are much longer :)**

**Also, you may think that some of the things I say are strange and that some of my spellings are wrong but that's because I'm an English girl and so many of the things I say such as my little sayings come from things my nutty grandmother says. If you have any problems, PLEASE tell me.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>When walking through the great hall, Lily was overwhelmed by the shear extent of the detail put into ever single sequin. Candles floated above their heads, as though suspended by an invisible wire, lighting the hall with a dim, romantic glow. The robust house tables had been replaced by circular, dainty, French-themed metal versions covered by a white linen cloth that sat around the edges of the hall. Each table had eight chairs in identical colours to the table. The tables themselves were laden with the finest gold plates and cutlery and crystalline glass goblets that winked at you when they caught the light. In the centre of the tables scattered at the edges of the hall was a fine oak dance floor that had been magically enchanted to cover the cold, stone floor. Curtains of silk and chiffon draped across the wall, and above the tables, hanging low to create an air of mystery and seclusion. The night sky above them twinkled merrily as James and Lily took their seats with Remus, Peter and their dates.<p>

"James Potter," James said confidently, holding out his arm to shake the hand of Remus' date, Emelda Hopewell, a sixth year Hufflepuff. She was a quiet girl with big, blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. Whatever she lacked it volume, she made up for in height. She must have been at least the same size as Peter, perhaps even Remus himself. She was shy, yet cute, and Lily could see why Remus had chosen her to be his date. For the occasion, she had tied her hair up into a loose up do, a few loose curls escaping from the clasp at the back of her head and winding down past her cheek. She adorned a pale blue pastel coloured dress made out of chiffon that glinted purple and pink as it reflected the dancing light. It stooped just below the knee, short enough to expose her long, .

Next to her was her friend, Miranda Little, of the same house and year, a half-blood witch with deep black hair and mysterious grey eyes. She was slightly plain yet made up for it with her bold, boisterous attitude. She had left her hair long and straight, falling down her back, whilst her figure-hugging silk dress was a deep, almost red, orange colour.

"This is Emelda," Remus said, glancing at his friend as he did so, "And this Miranda."

"Nice to meet you," James said, shaking Miranda's hand also before sitting down beside Lily. Lily couldn't help but notice the flirtatious way Miranda looked at him, glancing from below her eyelids whilst batting them and smiling seductively. She felt like smacking her. Right then, right there, in front of everyone. James however did not even notice her advances. Whilst Lily contemplated the murder of his best friend's date, He stared at her whimsically, caressing the smooth skin exposed at the top of her back with his eyes. He reached out his hand to feel the soft, smooth skin and began to trace circles on her shoulder blade. All of the tension which had once etched itself in her face flooded out in that one moment as she relaxed into her seat. They belonged to each other, and it would stay that way for a long time.

"Oh my god," Miranda said, wide-eyed, as she looked across the room. There, stood in the archway of the great hall, was the most unexplainable sight the students of Hogwarts had ever seen. And it just so happened to be the most memorable sight of all.

"Is that…Flidais Sonas… and Sirius Black? Together?" Emelda asked quizzically, her eyes widening as they made their way across the hall awkwardly. "They look… amazing!"

Lily span to see what all of the commotion was about. There, angrily storming towards their table was Fli in a beautiful, hand stitched, purple dress. The sweetheart neckline plunged low, exposing her assets as the thin, swaying fabric flowed down from the tight bodice. Wrapped around her, between the figure-shaping bodice and the floating skirt, was a belt of thin fabric tied into a bow beneath her cleavage. Her long, thin, caramel-toned legs seemed to go on forever, accentuated by the stiletto-high wedged heels. Her hair hung in loose curls that swirled down his back in a never-ending whirl-pool.

Beside her stood Sirius, his shirt clumsily peeking out of the top of his trousers and his sleeves rolled messily to his elbows. He had taken the liberty to take his robe off and currently had it slung it over his shoulder lazily as he waltzed through the door. His unruly hair seemed even more unruly than it had done before, what with the rest of the male population of the school having at least combed their hair for the event.

"_She_ doesn't look happy," James said in Lily's ear with a smirk. Lily giggled uncontrollably. It was true; Fli did look at him with venom and it looked as though she was shouting at him. For what, Lily only caught up on as they neared the table.

"I actually hate you." Fli hollered, storming her way through the crowd.

"Why? Because of those girls?"

"Yes because of those girls!"

"What's wrong? They're nice girls!"

"Marlene McKinnon is not a nice girl! I swear the only reason you asked me was so you could get away from her?"

"I guess so but-"

"Save it," She said as they neared the table, holding a hand up to silence him. "You will not ruin my night." As Fli sat next to Lily at the table and Sirius beside her next to Remus, there was a pregnant pause whilst no one said a thing. The hostility of their argument still hung in the air suffocating all conversation. It was as though the eight of them had been held on pause whilst the rest of the dance carried on.

"So…" James started, attempting to break the silence before Fli and Sirius continued their previous argument.

"Anyway, why do you care?" He asked, astounded that she would be bothered as to whether or not he spoke to another girl. It came across as bitter, and James couldn't help but detect a slight hint of jealousy hidden beneath his strong persona. If there was one person who could notice his bluff, it was James himself. "It's _not a date_, remember."

"I don't care," Fli said, looking away from him to hide her hurt. "You're still here with me, and that's embarrassing enough but then you go and do that!"

Throughout this exchange, Miranda's eyes were livid with excitement. Why Peter had asked her to the function Lily did not know for he was ever so lovely and she was ever so… not. She was often seen either causing trouble or being in the midst of it all whilst Emelda was the direct opposite, often seen shying away from the trouble caused. They were a strange pairing, and yet they seemed to be the best of friends.

"So you're embarrassed to be seen here with me?" He said with a mocking laugh, "Well, cutie, I'm not too pleased to be seen with you… as your… date!"

"Peter, Girls, why don't we dance?" Remus said, standing up out of his seat and hinting towards the dance floor. The other three, cottoning on to his intentions, nodded in agreement, Miranda half-heartedly so. The four of them left soundlessly as world war three waged on.

"Glad the feeling's mutual!"

"I can't believe this, I could have asked any one of the girls in here, excluding Lily, and they would be happy to be with me!" He said all-too arrogantly. "But I asked you so that you wouldn't have to come alone!"

"I had more than enough requests, thank you very much!" She replied defiantly, crossing her arms in aggravation. "I could have said yes to any one of them but I thought I'd help you to get rid of Marlene, because that's what type of person I am!"

"So you never actually wanted to come with me then?"

"Of course not!"

"Neither did I."

"Good job it's not a date then."

"Like I'd ever date you!" he exclaimed before thinking properly about his response. Lily cringed at the hurt expression on Fli's face as he did so, empathising with her friend for the hurt he had caused. She looked as though she might cry but she held it together for a last remark.

"You, Sirius Black, will never have anyone to love you." She spat before exiting the great hall, heading for the grounds outside the claustrophobic castle.

"Shit!" Sirius exclaimed, punching the metal table causing a hollow sound to ring through the awkward silence. After gaining his composure, he straightened himself out and ran to follow her, his intentions clearly set on the girl he had upset.

Lily stood up to leave after him but James stopped her. "Leave it, let them talk it out, It'll be good for them." Lily nodded in agreement. She had to allow Sirius the chance to heal the wounds he had reopened with that last comment and so relaxed into James' arms as a slow song came on.

Suddenly, Lily felt the weight beneath her shift as James stood up and held a hand out towards her. "May I have this dance?"

"Of course you may," She replied sweetly, allowing him to escort her towards the dance floor. He took her into his arms and began swaying to the slow, soothing music that the band was currently playing. She rested her head on his shoulder and relaxed into his embrace. And right there, in that moment, she felt as though she could live like that, in that moment, forever.

* * *

><p><strong>What do you think? This story will have a bit of FliSirius fluff as I don't want the story to lack interest **

**Okay, thank you,**

**Chloe xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	16. The Willow Tree

**Sorry, it's been ages, Christmas is just a busy time of year, I guess! Anyway, I have a new (way faster) laptop and so everything will be much quicker as I don't have to wait five hours for my laptop to load. Sorry for the mistakes on the previous chapter what with the gender misconception at one point and what have you... oops!**

**This one's a bit different as I wanted to shed some light on the Sirius/Fli sitch.**

**Here you are; the long-awaited 16****th**** chapter of Green Eyed Girl.**

* * *

><p>As Sirius left the great hall, he noticed how eerily quiet the castle was whilst everyone was at the ball, enjoying themselves. Fli could have disappeared to anywhere, and he would never have known where she was. He took a wild gander and decided upon the one place she would truly feel safe, the one place that she went whenever she was upset, a place only he knew about.<p>

* * *

><p>The black lake glistened in the beautiful moonlight, reflections of the night sky emerging amongst ripples in the water. The forest around was sleeping. The birds in the trees had ceased their singing for a few stolen hours so that the owls may claim their airspace. The insects and creatures twitched in restless sleep as the night-time predators claimed their prey, stealthily manipulating the landscape around them. A beautiful girl sat beneath the robust, heavy willow tree beside the lake, her dress nestled around her in creased, messy bundles. Her knees were drawn to her chin, water steaming from her eyes and flowing down to greet the soft skin of her legs. Her entire body shook with the sobs that cracked her usually cold-hearted exterior.<p>

The world around her was serine and placid, the twitching sounds of the grasshoppers soothing the aching in her heart. She leant against a thick, rough tree trunk, taking in the beautiful sight, breathing in the cool, earthy night air. The night sky twinkled with glittering stars, complementing the white crescent moon that sat proudly above her in the night sky. Fli wiped her eyes, watery black liquid trailing across her hands. She must have looked a state, what with her hair splaying out in an unruly fashion, her eyes streaming with mascara and eyeliner, and her dress lined with dirt and grass marks. For once, she did not care, kicking her stupidly high heels off of her purple painted toenails and stretching out to look up to the night sky. She would leave soon, in order to escape the watchful eyes of the students of Hogwarts, but not now, for now she would sit and gaze for a while to mull over her feelings, and to mentally curse Sirius Black.

Suddenly, breaking the serene surroundings of the wilderness, a fumbling of feet seemed to be approaching hastily. Fli put it down to fornicating students and allowed t to pass; just because her own romances never worked out didn't mean she would spoil others', if they wanted to have fun, then who was she to stop them. They would surely never come near her spot, for this was a secluded place, a place that belonged to her, a place no one but she knew about, or so she thought. The fumbling drew closer until it came to a halt abruptly. Fli assumed the fornicators had halted their advances and turned to a secluded part of the woods, and boy was she wrong.

There, stood at the mouth of the forest, drinking in the sight around him, was none other than Sirius Black. His face was flushed red from the exhaustion of running as he exhaled deeply; glad to have found her eventually. He had known of this spot by the lake for a while, of the seclusion it offered. And although it took a long time for him to do so, he was glad to have finally stumbled onto the correct path. Ever since he had known Fli, since he first laid eyes on her, she had ran off to this place whenever she was upset to calm down. No one had ever been able to find her, which is the reason she kept this part of the lake a secret, so that she may steal a few hours to herself. As far as she knew, the place was still a secret, even to Lily, and it had remained so until fourth year.

* * *

><p>Fli had just gotten into a fight with her first boyfriend, Harrison Smith, and so called upon the only place she felt she would never be interrupted, her spot by the lake. She had found it one day in first year and had gone there almost every day since to think, to cheer up, and to curse Sirius Black. As she had stormed down the path to the dark forest, she had not noticed young Sirius hiding from McGonagall so as to not my caught out for pulling his latest prank, magically exploding stink bombs, behind Hagrid's hut. For some inexplicable reason, he had decided to follow her down the path through the woods. Sirius remained silent the whole way, interested as to where the young girl would be going on her own, amidst the terrible prospects that lay hidden in the forest.<p>

The path had seemed random to Sirius, a turn right here, a left turn there, but Fli seemed determined; she clearly was not lost, and so he continued to follow her, to find out what she was up to. As they reached the lake, Sirius hung back and watched as she sat beneath her favourite willow tree and wept, soundlessly, into her palms. That was the first, and last time he had ever seen her cry, until now. Each time Fli would go missing and Lily would be worried as to her whereabouts, Sirius knew, at the back of his mind, that she was there, in her secret place beneath the willow tree.

* * *

><p>After that, Sirius had never returned to that place, for he knew that if he was to be seen by Fli, it would spoil her secret hide-out, a place of redemption and sorrow for her. He did not want to ruin the bond she had with that place and it's surroundings and so decided that he would leave her be, up until this moment, the moment he felt she needed company.<p>

It had taken him a while to get onto the right track but after a while, his memory began to redeem itself. He remembered the tall, condescending trees and their markings, the badger trails and the direction he went, and ran, fumbling over uprooted tree roots and branches. That was the sound Fli had mistakenly classed as fornicators. He eventually reached the parting of the trees and saw her, there, her beauty shining in the moonlight beneath the old willow tree, and stood, silently.

The two of them were silent for a long while, him standing and she sitting before Sirius steps out into the moonlight, his curly, deep brown, almost black, hair tousled with leaves. Fli heard his advance and span around to see her intruder. All of the emotion she had felt before seemed heightened and her breaths began to catch. She held back the tears that threatened to make an appearance and stared out towards the lake, hugging her knees up towards her chin.

Sirius timidly walked over and sat next to her, beneath the willow tree, slinging his arms on either knee. He too stared out onto the lake, watching the ripples of the water as fish popped up the water as if to greet them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fli begin to shiver and so pulled off his robe and wrapped it around her shoulders, his hands resting for a split second longer than intended on her shoulders. He removed them and returned back to his original position, twiddling his thumbs in shyness.

Tears rolled, ever so slowly, down her cheeks, their trails making black stains on her perfect, soft skin. Noticing this, Sirius gently fixated his arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him, her face resting on his chest as her tears turned into hearty sobs, staining his once pristine white shirt. Sirius did not care, right now his only care was for the girl in his arms who sobbed, because of him, because of his words, because he was scared of the commitment that he may have to make.

Sirius sat back, leaning against the tree trunk, as the tears ceased to appear once more. A pause ensued whilst neither of them dared to speak, the emotions of the last few hours melting away with time. Sirius toyed with a few strands of hair, tucking them behind her ear in a soothing gesture with a softness he had never expressed to Fli before. She looked up and this, tear trails still etched down her cheeks, as he continued the fluid sweep behind her ear and caressed her jaw before tilting her head up by placing his hand on her chin.

Then, as though drawn together by an unavoidable bond, their lips met in a passionate, rapturous kiss.

* * *

><p>AN:

**A bit different than normal due to it being Fli/Sirius but it was needed due to the story needing them together for progression. Sorry if you didn't like it. It was also strange due to the fact it had no dialogue- if you noticed that? I had originally put dialogue in it but then decided it wasn't needed, because they would understand each other's emotions through their body language. Hey, they've both dated (different people) before, they can cotton on to the others desires without an obvious sign.**

**Hope you had a great Christmas and have an excellent New Year!**

**As always, thank you for all of my reviews etc, I would not be able to advance further if it wasn't for you guys! Only problem is, if you're gonna comment, please don't do it anonymously, I'd love it if I were to be able to reply to your comment.**

**Love you guys,**

**~CHLOE xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	17. Dellusions of Peace and Finality?

**It's been a while… sorry! Busy, Busy, Busy! (Examinations etc) Pretty short update but it needed to be done…. It's been finished for a while but I haven't had time to upload it, sorry xxxx**

Breaking the kiss, the two of them gasped for air. Neither of them had ever felt the way they did now; the blood boiling rage in their hearts; the beating of butterfly wings in their stomachs; the aching longing to be held once more. It was new, and it was fresh, and it was real. So real in fact that that they felt as though they had imagined it all; the love was too real to be conceivable, to ever be existent. Fli feared that in any moment, she would wake up back in her dorm on Gryffindor tower, a concoction of emotion bubbling inside of her.

"I didn't mean it, Dais," Sirius whispered softly so as to not break the silence completely, caressing her cheek bone tenderly. The use of her favourite nickname did not go unnoticed by Fli and it seemed as though she actually warmed towards him as though all of the ice in her heart affiliated to Sirius himself had thawed instantly. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," She said, glancing out into the lake and leaning backwards so that her head was against his broad chest. "I truly am."

Sirius sat back, leaning against the tree trunk, as the tears ceased to appear in her eyes once more. A pause ensued whilst neither of them dared to speak, the emotions of the last few hours melting away with time. Fli began to feel comfortable as Sirius caressed the line of her hair, playing with a few loose strands of hair and tucking them behind her ear.

"It was a lie, you know," Sirius said after a long while. Once again there was silence as Sirius considered his next sentence. "There's a reason I asked you to the dance, and it isn't the one I told the others about Marlene."

To this, she looked up, into his eyes, searching for the smirk he usually held as he toyed around with her emotions. To her surprise, it was missing and had been replaced with a more serious, sincere facial expression. This generated a spark of hope and joy inside Fli which she both relished and feared. "Which was?"

"These past few months, I, I've been considering things I've never considered before." He said, stumbling nervously, completely out of character, with his words. "You know, since I um… caught Lily and James. And I thought, well, I thought about you, um, a lot."

"Mmhm…" She gazed back towards the lake, smiling slightly at the thought.

"And how-erm…" Sirius swallowed shyly, unable to find the correct words or phrasing. "How- bloody hell this is hard- how beautiful you are."

Fli blushed at this, suddenly feeling anxious. "I am?"

"Yes, you, er, yeah you are. And what I said in the great hall, I lied about that too. I would date you, Flidais Sonas, I would."

"Well," Fli chuckled, turning her entire body around to that she now sat directly opposite him. She enjoyed seeing his embarrassment; it was as though she had somehow humanised him from the emotionless state he had once been in. "How very noble of you."

"You think this is funny, don't you?" He laughed nervously, his smirk returning as he sat up, crossing his legs so that his eyes were directly across from hers.

"Extremely."

"Well, what do you think?" He replied confidently, slouching back to lean onto his muscular arms, outstretched behind him, so as to study her reaction.

"What do I think about what?"

He rolled his eyes, noticing her enjoyment in his internal quarrel. "You know… me and you?"

"What about me and you?" She smirked, leaning in towards him teasingly.

He exhaled deeply, shaking his head, inwardly laughing at her determination to cause him as much adversity as possible. He dramatically took his hands in hers, laughing as he did so. "Flidais Sonas, Would you please do me the honour of-"

"Bloody hell, you don't need to propose, this is only our first date!" Fi chuckled, never removing her hands from his.

"Shhh," He scolded, tracing circles on the back of her hands with his thumbs. "As I was saying, Flidais Sonas, Would you please do me the honour of…" He let it linger for a while, always dramatizing, as per usual, before eventually saying: "admitting this was actually a date once more." To this he received a playful clip around the ear, the two of them laughing as he grabbed her wrists in protection and pulled her in, towards him. For a breath or two, silence. Nothing was heard but the sounds of their heavy breathing, faces inches apart. "Would you please do me the honour of being my girlfriend?"

She leant forward, crossing the inches between them in a few stolen breaths, their lips finally meeting. A resounding yes hissed through the trees of their secret place, the forest once more at peace.

* * *

><p>"James," Lily giggled as the two of them made their way from the dance floor over to where their friends sat, engaging in what seemed to be a most enjoyable conversation. "I never knew you could dance like that!" She said between bursts, attempting to hold her laughter. The thought of her boyfriend, the lanky, gawky boy that he was, flailing his arms and legs around as though possessed, was a sight she would never forget. She had shuffled him from the dance floor for fear of him hitting yet another unsuspecting third year, much to the disagreement of James himself.<p>

"I guess I'm just a natural," He said, swinging his arms around to his hips and posing, knocking an unsuspecting goblet full of pumpkin juice over a table of sixth year Gryffindors, soaking Marlene McKinnon and her crones in sticky liquid. "Oops!"

"JAMES POTTER!" Marlene roared, squealing at the stained state of her fine silk dress. Her friends squirmed around, reaching for their wands, murmuring inaudible spells to each other under their breaths. Lily, of course, knew exactly what to do, not that she would say anything of course. As Lily and James walked away from the uproar, laughing inwardly as they heard the squeals of Marlene as one of her genius friends decided to use '_aguamenti_' to fix the problem. "YOU ABSOLUTE BAFOON! MY DRESS!" And, like clockwork, her footsteps clattered out of the great hall just as two red-faced teenagers entered the room.

Sirius seemed to be glowing, as though he had somehow figured out the point of his life in less than an hour. His shirt messily poked out of his trousers, the tails of which were stained a browning shade of green. He gingerly picked at protruding leaves, creating a trail of the forest as he strode over to his friends. Although she had cleared up the majority of her make-up, Lily could still see that Fli had been crying due to the redness around her eyes. Her dress, although mostly cleared up, still held a few remnants of her (not-so) secret hideout and she carried her platform heels in one hand. The other hand was laced in an embrace with… Sirius Black?

Lily squinted; had her eyes deceived her? No, there they were, smiling as they walked over to them, their hands entwined in a vice-like grip. Were these the same two squabbling teenagers who had left not long ago, crying and shouting as they did so?

"Hey Guys, what have we missed?" Fli said in a fluster, blushing as she noticed the entire room staring over to their table.

"What have _**we**_ missed?" Miranda asked bluntly, her mouth wide open as she looked over to the two apparent lovebirds. The entire table, and many students conveniently milling around them, strained their ears in order to listen to their reply.

"Yeah, Sirius," Fli snorted, leaning onto her elbow as it rested on the table, never releasing her grip of his hand. "What have they missed?"

"Well…" He adorned a smile, cottoning on to her joking tone. Just as he was about to speak, Emelda saved her friend from whatever he was going to say.

"Is that Tobias with Jasmiah?" She asked innocently, diverting everyone's gaze to the two Ravenclaw quidditch stars currently dancing extremely close, a spark in their smiles as they gazed into each other's eyes. She adorned a pale blue dress which glistened like her eyes as she twirled around her clean-shaven evening date.

"I hear they're dating," Miranda added slyly, grinning smugly over to Lily, hoping for a reaction.

Lily would not let it get to her. "Good," She said confidently, kissing James straight on the lips in front of her, not caring who was watching. This was her boyfriend who was once her friend and before that her enemy. And that was her friend who was once her boyfriend. And that was her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend who was once his best friend. And they were all in the same room, in the same school, at the same ball, feeling the same hopeless love that so many before them had fallen into the trap of. In this moment, everything was perfect, but nothing lasts forever.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah...soo... how was it?<strong>

**I would love to hear what you think about the chapter guys so please leave me a review?**

**Yeah, the more reviews I get the faster I will upload (more reviews=more inspiration=more words=faster updates) -My maths logic ;)**

**Anyway, yeah,**

**Love you all guyssssssss,**

**Chloeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeee xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


End file.
